Stars Align
by RWBY-Little Light Dragon
Summary: What would happen if Jaune had met some of his friends before going to Beacon, resulting in an unpredictable tragedy? A tragedy great enough to push him to do whatever it takes to protect the ones he loves? Follow your favorite students as they rise above to serve as beacons of light, illuminating the path through an ever darkening world. (Possible lemon, definitely dark moments.)
1. The Unexpected

**So... I have decided to try this whole writing thing out. I was inspired by some of the other RWBY FanFiction writers and did not want to wait any longer to write one of my own stories. I do not own RWBY. Hope you enjoy the story.**

* * *

Jaune Arc had never enjoyed seeing people in pain. He was quite familiar with these types of scenes, mostly due to his seven older and overly protective sisters. Usually these types of events were caused by some careless peer of Jaune's teasing him for being a rather skinny and feminine looking boy at the age of ten. Then this was followed by his sister's wrath that struck fear and regret into any being that was caught wronging their brother. Jaune didn't agree with their methods, but he also was not fond of being treated like a wimp by most people. Whenever he saw people in some sort of pain, it seemed to inflict sadness and hurt into him also.

Today he was thankful for being able to get out of class earlier than his siblings so that he could avoid the unwanted protection. He had just begun his long trek to his farm house when he started to recall some of the times his sisters had cruelly punished his classmates.

As he walked down the desolate dirt road, his mind cleared and he focused on the sounds of the forest surrounding him. The birds tweeting their unending songs, the red and orange leaves as they rustled and fell from the trees, the strengthening wind that caused the homes of the leaves to sway ever so slightly. He found himself smiling admiringly at the entire environment of this pathway, so peaceful and calming, no annoying sisters to ruin the moment.

The whole scene of beauty had done well at distracting him from the soft snap of a twig, followed by several more, seemingly innocent cracks, that belonged to a more sinister cause...

Several burning red eyes had begun to appear, hidden by the dense foliage of the forest. One by one the pairs of eyes opened, focusing in on their unaware and unprotected prey. All of these creatures had a similar feeling of hate for the species before them on the road. For so long these small two-legged beings had hunted their kind, killing off whatever they could. But at times, the creatures of Grimm were able to exact their revenge, even if it was a small operation like this.

The short scrawny blonde continued to walk without a care in his mind, not noticing the rather large pack of Beowolves closing in every second. But one pair of eyes had already absorbed the entire scene in from their perch high above in a tree. The blazing amber gaze of them transfixed on the oblivious blonde.

She would have to do something quickly before it was too late.

Jaune heard none of the girl's movements as she descended from the shadows, landed gracefully, and quickly reached the boy. He jumped when he felt someone grab his hand and whipped around expecting to see one of his sisters trying to scare him.

He was astonished when he was greeted by a mysterious girl with raven black hair and a cute bow placed on top. He felt the touch of her hand, it was soft and warm, it comforted him. Her skin was pale white, clear of any blemishes or marks. She looked to be the same age as him, and as his eyes reached her calm face, he was drawn to her burning amber eyes… There was something so entrancing about them, not allowing him to look away.

After what felt like an eternity for him, but a mere couple of seconds for her, she spoke with a smooth voice that contained a hint of worry in it, "We have to move… Now!"

Before he was allowed to process what was happening, he felt himself being pulled into a complete sprint, thankfully, in the direction of his home. Dreadful snarls of the approaching Grimm tore their way through the air. He turned his head slightly, only to catch a glimpse of the blood red hoard of eyes belonging to the dark beasts. The blood from his face drained and his eyes widened in terror. When he turned his head back forward, the fear induced a newfound energy in him, increasing his speed, yet he was still not as fast as the strange girl beside him. The whole time they ran with linked hands.

When the black hair took a chance to look back, she noticed the gap between them and their enemies was closing. "They're almost to us!" She spoke just loud enough for him to hear, the worry not masked at all this time.

"What are we gonna do?!" Jaune asked in a fear filled voice, believing that they were done for. He pictured his sisters in his mind and felt regret for not waiting for them to escort him home.

"Hold on tight!" The girl yelled, it was startling to feel his vise-like grip crushing her hand now. _Good, he can follow instructions,_ she thought. _Ok, you've done this before…_ She closed her eyes while continuing to sprint and tried to focus on a point far ahead. Suddenly, the two had blinked multiple times, each successive instance increased their distance from the gruesome creatures.

Jaune had no clue what happened. The last thing he knew; they were about to be torn to pieces by the vicious monsters. Now, the two children were safely out of view from them somehow. There was a severe convulsion in his stomach from not being accustomed to that type of travel.

He inspected his surroundings and by the looks of it, they were a few minutes from his home. "What was that?" He managed to ask before immediately being forced to close his mouth in an attempt to hold in his lunch.

The girl was not fairing any better than Jaune. She looked completely drained after whatever she just did. Her panting was much louder than Jaune's, but his face was more green with nausea.

She felt like her Aura had completely dried up due to the overuse of her Semblance. If she were older and more experienced, then she would have only been slightly drained. "A-are you ok?" She asked as her gaze raised to look at her acquaintance, who nodded. With her hands behind her head, trying to catch her breath, she noticed that the boy was staring. She realized that he had asked a question and she rudely ignored it. "That was just my Semblance."

"Come on! We're not too far from my house." He gave her a toothy grin and then a puzzled face soon replaced it. "D-do you have a name?" He asked shyly. The question was already out of his mouth when he realized how stupid he must have sounded.

She was unable to preserve her emotionless face and cracked a tiny smile then said in her sweet voice abruptly with no other words, "Blake…"

"Hi Blake, I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc actually... Um.. If you were wondering." That goofy smile he had donned previously returned and she covered her mouth with a small hand to stifle a laugh.

He took her hand and didn't feel the warmth from earlier, but a much colder sensation. Instead of ignoring it he looked back up at her and noticed a slight frown on her face. She felt herself becoming increasingly dizzy, as if she were about to pass out. When she lost her balance and began to fall forward Jaune caught her by the shoulders and held her up. "Blake! Are you ok?"

"Y-yeah, j-just…" She was about to continue but was halted by her vision fading to black and she allowed sleep to overcome her, forcing her to collapse in the young boy's arms.

Jaune was once again confused by this girl, but there was no doubt in his mind that he must help the girl. He heard snarls in the distance growing louder and louder. _How did they find us so quick?!_ He managed to lift Blake into his arms and smiled when he found that she was quite light, despite almost being taller than him. The Grimm were getting close but if Jaune made it home quickly then his mother could deal with them.

* * *

As Blake stirred back into consciousness, she felt two things. An annoying buzzing in her head, and warmth. _Wait, where am I? What happened?_ She was used to sleeping in the wild ever since her mentor had left her. He had left to tend to other matters that didn't involve her, it puzzled her on whatever he always went to do… If this period of his absence was like the rest, then he should return in a couple months. Thankfully, he had taught her how to survive on her own.

She sensed the warmth growing and then she heard something. _Is that.. Purring?_ When she opened her eyes the sight of a pure black cat entered her hazy view. Before she could interrogate herself any further, Blake heard the door open. She didn't know who it was until she heard the blonde from earlier ask, "Are you awake?" A bit of worry was in his voice and it was hushed in order to not bother her if she was still sleeping.

Blake wasn't sure if she should talk to him but the desire to know what was going on was too great. She sat up slowly in the bed and propped her back up against the wall behind her. Her lips were shaped in a small frown and Jaune could tell she was afraid. "Where am I?" She asked in a soft and nervous tone. As Jaune came over to sit on the bed at her feet her eyes narrowed and she hugged her knees to her chest defensively.

He noticed that she wasn't at ease around him so he moved further down the bed and she seemed to relax slightly. "It's ok Blake. I'm not going to hurt you. Seriously, I can't hurt anyone, even if I wanted to." That same goofy grin was back and she relaxed once more. "You passed out back there on the road. I brought you back here as fast as I could and just barely escaped the Grimm."

Her eyes softened when he said that. _Why didn't he leave her behind? Why did he care about her at all?_ She had thought humans were selfish and only cared for themselves, she wasn't used to being treated so well by them. For as long as she could remember, humans had discriminated against her race, so she was raised by her mentor to despise them. Though this particular human was different from the rest. _He still doesn't know what I truly am…_ She reminded herself.

"Thank you Jaune, you saved my life…" Blake said shakily but her words were full of gratitude. "I don't know how to repay you." As she said that second part her gaze fell to her hands in shame.

"You don't owe me anything. It was just the right thing to do." He spoke quietly and put his hand under her chin to pick her head up. The smile on his face didn't look goofy this time, it was warm and gentle. "What kind of friend would I be if I left you behind?"

A delicate blush overcame her pale complexion and she was unable to hold herself back from hugging the boy. This was the first human that had ever treated her this way, the first to become her friend.

* * *

It had been a month since Jaune had become friends with this mysterious girl that went by the name of Blake. So far he had only discovered that she wasn't from around here, she had no family, and had little trust for anybody except for her mentor and Jaune. She had also mentioned that his name was Adam, but seemed to avoid giving any other information about him. Despite this, the young blonde boy and black haired girl had grown rather close. Blake spent all the time that she could with him and was never pleased when they were separate.

Jaune's mother had generously offered Blake to stay with them for as long as she wanted and Blake graciously accepted. His mother, Aria, was very kind to her, possibly even more so than Jaune. His father, Leo, was not around often. But when he was, he seemed to enjoy the presence of Blake because she was much quieter than his girls.

She had met but his seven sister but not had a chance to get familiar with them. From oldest to youngest they were twins Anna and Ella, Alaina, twins Veronica and Violet, Leah, then Kora. All of them had the same blonde hair that their parents had. Frankly, Blake couldn't tell the difference between any of them.

Currently, Jaune was going to meet up with Blake after their classes at school had drawn to a close. When he saw his friend, she was trying to walk away but two older, rather tall boys, seemed to be picking on her. One of them had spiky white hair and was lankier looking than his friend. The second looked more muscular and had slicked back black hair, this was one of the guys that usually bullied Jaune.

Blake attempted to ignore the two and walk away but they wouldn't give up. One of them shoved her down and she landed hard on her hands and knees. As Jaune approached he was able to hear some of the nasty insults they threw at her.

"Do you even have a home?" The white haired boy laughed as he spoke.

"Where's that Jaune loser?" The bully named Drew added and he kicked dirt in her face. Blake's eyes began to burn from the gritty substance entering them. She closed them and knew there was no chance of running or fighting now.

"And what's up with that stupid bow?!" Drew's friend yanked the bow out of Blake's hair, revealing two small and delicate cat ears. The girl let a cry out, wishing someone would come to her aid. Tears began to pour from her eyes now and she had lost any chance to control her emotions. Jaune didn't see this, he was only focused on one thing.

"Well look what we have here…" The sneer on Drew's face doubled from what it had been. It was almost immediately knocked off when he was struck by something in the back of his head that caused him to stumble forward. The bullies turned to face their attacker and laughed at who it was.

Jaune stood before them in a fighter's stance, fists raised and ready to defend his only friend. "How about you two pick on someone your own size?!" He yelled, even though he was much smaller than the two other boys. The second punch that Jaune threw was immediately stopped by Drew's hand. He stood no chance against two older and trained bullies who both had their Auras unlocked.

Drew was completely focused on Jaune and his friend was holding Blake's arms behind her back, forcing her to watch what was about to happen. She felt despair and helplessness, not being able to assist her companion. She wanted to run, far from here, taking Jaune with her… But she couldn't. Her attempts at resisting and breaking free were proven futile by the strong brute who held her.

The pain shown on Jaune's face grew now that the bully was succeeding in crushing his hand. He had lost all feeling in it and was convinced that it was broken. Drew took advantage of Jaune's daze when he spun around and performed a kick to swipe the blonde's legs out from underneath him. Then the unrelenting kicking began, delivered to his ribs mostly, a couple even to his head. Jaune lost count as blood ran from his nose and his vision became hazy, then fading to black. He was still conscious, much to his dismay. He knew some of his ribs had been broken, he knew that he was being bruised and battered. But it was all worth it to him if it meant taking the hit for his friend.

Blake's eyes were becoming more and more red from the tears. She never wanted him to suffer. Especially not for her. Jaune had never told her that his Aura had not been unlocked yet, it was common for it to be unlocked at the age of ten. Blake hadn't even noticed that she was crying out for anyone to come and help, but nobody arrived to save them. The bullies had followed her to the long winding road that led to Jaune's home, they were in the middle of nowhere.

After making sure that Jaune wasn't getting up, the bullies ran back to town so that they would not be caught for the crime. Blake scrambled urgently over to the severely injured boy, her tears now pouring onto his body. "J-jaune?" She muttered and was choked up. Her hands were resting on his chest gently.

The only reply he gave was a struggled groan. His eyes were still closed and he felt her hands rise up to hold his face. Then one of her hands moved to his shoulder and he felt strong surges of energy radiating from that hand.

Blake's Aura revealed itself as a black veil that glowed and hugged the skin on her body, protecting her. She had closed her eyes and then began to speak the same ritual that was used on her by Adam. "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."

The effects of the ritual were immediate, Jaune's entire body was eclipsed by an ethereal white glow. He felt a flame inside of him ignite and his body started to grow warm. The white shroud surrounding him grew brighter, almost forcing Blake to close her eyes. She had never seen anything like this, his Aura was stronger than anyone's she had ever felt, even Adam's. The energy coming off of him was able to even warm Blake too.

Then the powers began to activate its healing, ripples in his white Aura generating from over his heart pulsed across his skin, covering every bit of him. All of the wounds caused by the brutes had vanished, both internal and external. It was as if he was never attacked.

All of this caused Jaune to slip into a gentle sleep. Blake was utterly astonished by the events that just took place. She had made sure to restore her bow to its home on top of her head before doing anything else. After that, she took his hand and blinked them back home and explained the events to Jaune's mother.

Aria helped Blake carry Jaune up to his room and then stormed out of the house, prepared to inflict the wrath of the Arc family into two particular young men.

Blake tucked Jaune into his bed, making sure to cover him enough to keep him warm. She was not sure why she didn't run right then. She could easily escape and try to forget all of this… But she couldn't.

Something about this boy was different from everyone else in this world. She knew that he thought she was special, but now she knew for sure that Jaune was even more unique than all else. Eventually she decided to slide into bed next to him and took his hand into her own. She held it gently, like he was a priceless gem. Her eyes then slowly closed and one thought, causing her to smile slightly, crossed her mind before she joined the boy in his soft slumber, _I need him…_

* * *

The next morning Jaune woke up to a great surprise. He was shocked to feel that Blake had decided to join him in his bed while he was unconscious. A warmth spread across his cheeks and he knew this meant he was blushing, but only slightly. The blonde swore he heard purring coming from his sleeping friend who had her face buried in his neck, but he decided to disregard those noises. Her arm was stretched across his chest, keeping her form close to him. Warm breathes from the girl were hitting his neck, just causing Jaune to redden even deeper. He couldn't urge himself to move and wake her up, she was just so peaceful and relaxed, she was never this way.

Jaune tried to recall what had happened before his sleep. He remembered defending Blake from the two bullies, then he remembered getting completely bashed by them. _What else?_ He asked himself and then he remembered Blake's bow. He was unable to discern if that part was a dream or reality.

Before he was able to ponder it any further, the wearer of the little black bow began to stir. At first she was slowly waking up, then she nuzzled her nose into the boy's neck, hoping that he was ok. His lips curled into an affectionate smile. It was then that he felt a growing wetness from tears on his neck where Blake's face rested. "I'm so sorry…" She whispered ever so slightly and continued to repeat those words until she was too choked up to speak. Her grip on Jaune had tightened enough to squeeze the air out of him.

"Don't be sorry Blakey, you saved me." She could hear how grateful he was. "I guess were even now." His sweet smile turned into a goofier one.

Blake lifted her face when he spoke, her sorrowful face had sparked in surprise as she saw he was awake. "B-but… It was my fault, if we never met then—" She was cut off by his finger covering her lips.

"Don't say one more word Blake. I don't regret anything." He smiled and then wiped her tears away gently. "Now let's get down to the real business…" A mischievous glint came into his eye. "Where's the food?!" He settled on asking about the bow later on when things cooled down.

The raven haired girl couldn't help letting a soft laugh out at the boy's question. He shot up and yanked the girl downstairs to where the food was.

* * *

The two had decided on eating pancakes for their breakfast. Jaune knew the Arc family recipe for their secret pancakes and Blake was unable to refuse such a generous offer. Thankfully the boy had learned a thing or two about cooking from his mother.

Jaune's sisters were all out with Aria, probably still hunting down or punishing the two attackers from the previous day. His father just arrived at home and was walking through the front door as the two friends finished devouring an enormous stack of pancakes.

When they saw Leo, he was carrying something wrapped in a pure white cloth that seemed to be glowing. His father approached Jaune slowly and Blake could tell this was a big moment for him, but was not sure why. The blonde boy's eyes widened and sparkled. He would not take a single glance away from the cloth.

"D-d-dad… I-is that…" Jaune was struggling with his words, he never expected this considering that he had seven older sisters, all ore capable than him.

"Yes, son. Crocea Mors is officially yours." His father spoke proudly and removed the cloth from the item.

A sheath and sword were revealed, both seemed to glow white and energy pulsed from them. The sheath had two golden crescent moons engraved into the pure white material. The sword had a blue handle that matched Jaune's and his father's eyes, the cross guard was colored gold. Leo stuck the family heirloom out for Jaune to take. "It has been passed down from generation to generation in the Arc family, and now it belongs to you."

Jaune was speechless, he reached out to take the relic with shaky hands. Once he grasped the sheath it sprung open into a white shield with golden trim. The sword was unsheathed and the blade glowed pure white, made out of a strange material. Both of them exhibited many battle scars from the countless use of them by past Huntsman. After he noticed this, it dawned on him that these were extremely heavy for his untrained arms, and he let his arms go limp so they rested partially on the ground.

Blake was pleased to see that her friend had finally received his weapons. She had created Gambol Shroud a few years ago. It was necessary to own a weapon when you grow up in the wild, only having yourself to depend on for the most part.

Leo's booming laugh broke her train of thought. "It looks like it is also time to begin your training, now that your Aura is unlocked." He tried to hide the unsureness from his voice.

* * *

Only a year had passed since Jaune's training had begun with his father. His progress was slow at first, but he was a fast learner and born with a gift in strategy. Jaune was determined to improve, no matter what the cost. He wanted to be able to protect people. Especially people like Blake.

The two had continued to grow a stronger bond as time had passed. She decided that she trusted Jaune's family and they gladly let her stay at the Arc home. The house was already crammed with enough people, so she had to share a room with Jaune, not that she minded at all.

Occasionally her old mentor contacted Blake to let her know how well the White Fang were faring. She had joined the gang of Faunus at a young age when she was taken care of by Adam. He was a strong supporter of them in the beginning, and recently had become their leader.

Blake hadn't encountered any issues when she snuck out for their secret meetings. They rarely did and they only met for a couple minutes at a time. He was significantly displeased on how the girl chose to depend on humans. He thought that he had taught her better than that.

Tonight was one of those nights where she was required to sneak out to meet her mentor. A wave of shame crashed over her for not telling Jaune about her Faunus heritage. Regret struck her every time she snuck out of his bed. Thankfully, the boy was not very observant at this age so her job was easy.

The Faunus girl slipped out from beneath the blankets in Jaune's bed, being extra careful to not wake him. She then put on one of his black hoodies over her thin black nightgown and made her way towards the window. She was quick, silent, and well trained in climbing so she had no problems sneaking out of the giant house like a master ninja. The meetup point for the two Faunus was just a couple minutes away, through some woods and by the river that flowed near Jaune's house.

Jaune was having problems sleeping and wasn't completely out when he felt coldness fill the place Blake was at felt. He was about to stop her, then wondered what she was doing and decided to let this proceed to gather more information.

When his best friend snuck out of the window, Jaune made his way downstairs because he was definitely not qualified to scale down the side of the house. He followed her to an opening in the woods by a rushing river. It was then that he noticed that his friend was not alone.

The man with her was tall and slim. His hair was blood red and swept backwards, Jaune swore that it had a faint glow and two small horns protruding from the top. He wore a long black trench coat with a red inside, a white emblem and a flame design on the left shoulder. On the back of a coat was a white tulip under a larger red rose. The most intimidating factor of his outfit was the mask based off of a Grimm. _Ok I don't trust this guy… Why is Blake with him?_

From the bush Jaune was hiding in he started to pick up some of their conversation. "Adam, he has potential… I know he's a human but he could help us. Please, maybe if you trained him like you did with me—"

"Enough!" The man apparently named Adam yelled in a raspy voice. He didn't seem to be significantly older than Blake, probably only by a few years. "He doesn't care about us Blake! He doesn't understand the struggle of being a Faunus! He's just like the rest of the humans." After saying this he turned his back to her.

"He's different!" Blake yelled defiantly, trying to get through to the stranger.

It was then that Blake realized her mistake. With lightning fast speed Adam whipped around and landed a powerful slap to her face, the impact of it throwing her to the ground.

Jaune couldn't sit there and watch anymore, he was fuming with rage, nobody was allowed to hurt his friend. He burst out of his hiding place and yelled, "Get away from her!" This brought a sick and twisted smile to Adam's face.

"Well look what we have here, I'm glad you decided to show up Jaune." Adam turned to Jaune as the blonde began sprinting at him with Crocea Mors armed and ready.

It didn't take long for the experienced criminal to disarm the boy, then he used his own weapon. The redhead thrusted the blunt hilt of his katana into Jaune's gut, knocking him down. He then approached slowly, unsheathing his weapon as he walked, revealing a blood red blade.

A split second was all it took for Adam to have the sharp tip of the blade at Jaune's neck, causing him to shake uncontrollably. The boy felt it sear easily through his Aura and its fine tip poked him in the neck, drawing a miniscule amount of blood. The whole time Adam wore a terrifying smile on his face, one that showed he took a sadistic pleasure in doing this.

Right then Blake pushed the blade away from Jaune's neck and stood between the two. She narrowed her eyes at Adam. He couldn't continue, he had had a soft spot for her ever since he took her in. "You _will_ train him, and you _will not_ kill him…" She said in a voice that struck terror into Jaune and Adam, straight to their cores. The criminal sheathed his weapon and nodded once. _You're lucky your Jaune is still young,_ he thought.

After that night, it was decided that Jaune would begin training extra, secretly with Adam at night, in addition to the training with his father in the afternoon.

* * *

Time had passed quickly with all of the school and training the duo endured. Before they knew it, a year had passed and they were both twelve now. Jaune had improved immensely with his sword, Adam seemed extremely skilled and qualified in using his katana. Still the boy had not discovered his Semblance yet, much to his dismay. He forgot completely to ask Blake about her bow and what lies underneath.

Blake had mostly improved at using her Semblance and learned how to gauge how low her Aura was. That helped her to decide when to save her energy or use Shadow to her advantage.

The girl had also developed a strong fondness of reading. There was almost an unlimited supply of literature available for her at the Arc home, mostly because all of the family members had such different interests in books.

"Sooo… Do you think you're prepared for tomorrow?" Jaune asked as the two walked back home after a long night of practice. His stomach was contorting into the worst of shapes just thinking about it.

"I think that you're worrying too much. It's our first mission, Adam wouldn't make us do anything he knew we couldn't handle." Blake replied with a glance over at him and a reassuring smile.

"Are you sure?" Jaune doubted that Adam cared for his wellbeing. The two had been rivals ever since the night they met.

"Positive."

They continued until they were in view of the large wood cabin house. The house had three stories and the top one was mostly made of glass windows, allowing the family to admire the view and spot anything coming their way. Fern dust lights hung around the house, lighting the darkness of night.

The two did not waste much of their time staring at the house. They quickly snuck back inside into their shared room, Blake using the window, and Jaune using the door. Once they changed into their pajamas they collapsed onto the bed exhausted, then were immediately enveloped by sleep.

* * *

First thing in the morning after getting dressed the two left their house, making sure to leave a note behind to tell Jaune's parents they went fishing. Both of them were reluctant to lie to them, but Blake convinced Jaune they had to do this.

They arrived at a new meeting place, in a clear patch of woods located high on top of a hill. The trees surrounding the area were colored with red leaves that rattled and swayed in the wind. In the middle there was a large rock that Blake took a seat on, her back facing Jaune. Jaune just stood there staring at her, her wavy black hair flowed in the wind. Before his thought could drift too far their mentor arrived.

Out of nowhere Adam appeared, he arrived silently so the two didn't notice him yet. "Jaune, you'll go in first. Start at the front of the train, we will work our way to you from the back." His voice sounded grimmer than usual and caused both of them to jump.

Jaune wasted no time in gliding quickly down the steep cliff and making a clumsy leap onto the front of the train, almost stumbling off entirely. The crew underneath him were the only humans on board, the rest were different types of Atlesian robots. But he wasn't aware of this, he had thought this train lacked human passengers, that was what Adam and Blake had told him the previous day.

Blake wasn't concerned for her own safety, but for the goofy blonde's. "Blake, its time…"

She turned her head, flashing him her amber irises, the expression on her face was cool and calm, "Ok." And at that they were off, sprinting through the reddened forest. Their leap seemed more smooth than Jaune's and they managed to land further back on the train.

* * *

 _Alright, you can handle a couple of robots Jaune_ , he reassured himself mentally. He made his way to the edge of the train and hung over the side. There were windows on the sides and at the face of the trains head. He decided to kick in the window and hop inside, immediately wielding his sword and expanding his shield.

When he raised his weapons along with his eyes he was shocked by what he saw.

A girl with pure white hair, done in an off-center ponytail, wearing a white and light blue dress turned to greet his gaze. He recognized that emblem on the back of her dress, this girl was a Schnee. _Why is she here?! Why are people on this train?!_ A quieter voice in his head asked, _why is she so beautiful?_ The last thought woke a momentary blush on his cheeks, but it quickly faded.

He looked into her cold winter blue eyes and was made nervous by the growing frown on her face.

"Um, excuse me. What do you think you're doing?" The Schnee asked in a sour and scrutinizing voice. Her narrowing sharp stare sent chills down Jaune's spine.

"U-uhhhmmm…" He was not great at quickly thinking, it didn't help that this girl intimidated him.

The only two other people in the room revealed themselves when they charged at Jaune. Both were guards equipped with a thick metallic baton each.

The first swing came in a side swipe of one's baton, aimed directly for his head. Jaune ducked under the attack and bashed his shield into that guard's chest, sending him backward into a wall, knocking his head against the wall. He wasn't going to get back up after that for a while.

The second aggressor attempted to strike but it was deflected by the shield. The great force behind the baton sent shocks of pain through Jaune's shield arm. This man was much stronger than him and the boy wouldn't be able to withstand another hit like that.

Crocea Mors was now locked against the baton, Jaune tried to push his enemy's weapon back but was only losing ground. Jaune disengaged, quickly rolling to his left, dodged the swing, then delivered a brutal slash to the guard's helmet. He crumpled down to the ground in an unconscious heap.

The Schnee heiress lost her confident face and it was replaced by a gaping surprised mouth. Jaune felt pride at his performance first, then a horrible feeling came over him. _These are people I just hurt…_ He dropped his weapon and shield in shame. He was supposed to use these gained abilities to defend people, not injure them. "I'm sorry…" His voice cracked and he shut his eyes.

She squinted at him with a questioning look. "Whoever you are, what's going on here?" Her voice sounded softer and less accusative now.

"I'm on my first mission," He started. "My teammates are on their way up the train now. They had told me that we were just practicing on robots protecting this cargo, and that we would not be hurting anyone." He blurted to her, telling the complete truth.

The anger boiled up inside of her again. "Do you even know who I am?! I am Weiss Schnee. And this cargo here belongs to the Schnee Dust Company! You were planning on destroying our property?"

"Look I'm sorry," He spoke weakly, her voice only made him more upset. "But we have to get out of here before my team catches me, they are not as merciful as I am."

"I'm not going anyw—"

He took her hand after reacquiring his equipment, and pulled her towards the door that led to the end of the train. Jaune led the girl on until they reached an open train car, the sight before him caused his face to drain of color and his insides felt compressed.

Adam and Blake stood together. Fury was evident in the man's glare, but the girl's face looked curious and untrusting. "A-Adam I c-can explain" Jaune said in a weak and nervous voice.

Weiss bite her lower lip as it quivered in fear. Jaune stood in front of her protectively and she only peaked out to watch the redheaded man apparently named Adam.

"You weakling, you had _one_ job Jaune!" Adam walked slowly towards the two and Jaune's figure began to shake. "I knew you weren't strong enough."

"Adam, let him talk." Was the only thing that Blake was able to say. She was scared for her friend's safety now; she knew that she wouldn't be able dissuade her mentor this time.

The criminal unsheathed Blush and Wilt as he closed the gap between the petrified children. He shoved Jaune down to the ground to get a better look at the girl.

When he recognized her, it brought an evil grimace to his face. "Ah yes, a Schnee…" Before anyone was able to react he burned through Weiss's Aura with his katana, the blade cleanly pierced through the petite girl's midsection, then pulling it right out.

Time seemed to slow for Jaune. He wasn't able to process what just happened. He felt an emptiness that he couldn't describe. It was cold and daunting, he dreaded every second of this feeling.

Blake finally reacted by throwing a pistol of Gambol Shroud toward Adam and its chain wrapped around his waist. He was then pulled back and cast to the train car behind them. She then transformed the pistol into a blade and uttered one sorrowful word, "Goodbye…" A single slash separated the end half of the train from the engine, and with that, her mentor was gone.

She turned back toward the other two beings with her and covered her mouth in shock. Jaune had taken Weiss into his arms and propped her head in his lap. Her eyes were fluttering in an attempt to resist the urge to pass out. Her face was drained of the little color that was in it previously. Jaune shed a single tear and they continued to fall frequently after the first.

"Weiss…" His hand lowered from her cheek and positioned over her wound that had already formed a pool of blood around them. He felt the warm blood trickle onto his hand but he kept his hand there. Her eyes widened in pain.

The sun had set and the last light of day was now gone, they were left in darkness but Blake could still see perfectly.

Weiss felt the boy place a kiss on her forehead, then was swallowed by what she assumed was the darkness of death, yet it was only her passing out. As he placed the kiss on her, Jaune's hand on the wound began to glow, blinding Blake from seeing the moment. The light continued to grow in power. Jaune felt his hand begin to heat up. A beacon of the powerful white light beamed up into the sky, visible for miles. He felt the wound under his hand seal and the exterior blood mixed and swirled into the white light, dissolving into nothingness.

He felt drained of energy. He could tell that his Aura was much weaker now and he needed to recover. But there was no time, he had to get home.

* * *

The two demoralized friends trudged through the woods, nearing home. Jaune carried the unconscious Weiss in his arms, despite her light weight, he was very close to collapsing from exhaustion. "Jaune, what happened back there?" Blake asked in a voice lined with curiosity and annoyance. Her arms were crossed and she was looking at the ground as she led him.

"I don't know, it just, sort of happened." His voice was hoarse and unstable. He was breathing heavily after speaking.

Not another word was spoken. When they arrived at home they saw the front door wide open and a single light lit in the kitchen. Jaune rushed inside with the girl still in his arms, he could hear women weeping quietly. The horrifying sight crushed him.

His knees wobbled and shook uncontrollably. He couldn't hold his weight anymore so he dropped to his knees heavily, setting the beauty down. Her breathing was slight and subtle, but still existent.

In the hallway adjacent to the kitchen laid his father's body, but no head was anywhere to be seen, only rose petals stood amongst the splattered blood. Jaune tore his eyes away from the decapitated body and dropped them to his shaking hands. He stared at them, knowing this was his fault for fueling Adam's outrage.

His arms went limp and no longer obscured his line of vision to the girl's face. Her face had a heartbroken pout and those winter blue eyes opened, showing sympathy to the broken boy.

It was then that he heard Anna, his eldest sister, ask through her tears, "J-Jaune?"

Her twin, Ella, continued weakly, "W-where's Blake?"

* * *

Blake had done the thing she always did when times turned hard. She ran.

* * *

 **Ok sooo… There we go. I hope you guys enjoyed reading the first chapter of the story. I'm sorry that it seemed like I crammed a lot into this chapter, I just wanted to have most of the events before Beacon in the first chapter. It just helped to set the scene early on. Future chapters probably won't be as long as this.**

 **Please leave a review to let me know what you thought about it. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I'm still learning how to make these stories and could use any advice given.**

 **Also, what kind of pairings do you want to see? Jaune and Blake are definitely going to be together, but I'm fine with some of the other girls being involved in that relationship. Thanks :)**


	2. Dreams of Dread

**Hey I'm back guys. First of all, thank you. I have to say, I can't believe people actually liked this story that much. I did not expect any of the support you guys gave me, so I'm extremely grateful.**

 **It seemed like people really want the girls to be Pyrrha, Blake, Weiss, and Yang. Sooo I might just include all of them, but alternate for each chapter, then as I get to Volume 3 the relationships will be tested and some will… Die off… Let me know in a review if you'd rather not have all four girls interested in Jaune.**

 **I'm not sure if Ruby and Jaune will have a romantic relationship, I always thought they were more like sister and brother. And that Volume 3 finale was the most amazing yet depressing thing I have ever seen, I'm not sure that I will ever recover from it. (I do not own RWBY, Rooster Teeth does, and beware that this chapter is darker than the previous)**

* * *

Yesterday had been the five-year anniversary of his father's death. Five years since Blake had ran away. Five years since he broke down and rose again, determined to avenge his father. He would do all in his power to save and protect those that he loved most.

Jaune had lost the two most important people in his life. After the incident he spiraled into a dark descent of depression. He gave up on his attempts to continue training, he skipped his classes, and he had isolated himself from those around him.

If it weren't for Weiss, then he would have never pulled through. She stayed by his side through the hardship and encouraged him to stop that nonsense, and to continue growing stronger. The girl stuck with him for a month after his loss, but then her father forced her to return back to their home in Atlas. Fortunately, she was able to stay in contact with Jaune over the years and on occasion they visited each other. Most of the visits consisted of Weiss pushing Jaune to train harder, but for this visit, she planned on giving him a break.

"Come on Jaune, tell me!" The heiress practically begged in her usual cute pout.

"Weiss…" Jaune's cheery expression faltered into one of sadness and he halted in his tracks. "I didn't get accepted into Beacon…" He finished dejectedly. The boy's lying and acting abilities had improved since when he was younger, making it easier to prank Weiss.

She stopped walking the bustling streets of Vale as he had. She furrowed her brow in sadness and looked at her tiny feet. "But Jaune… Who will I be friends with if you're not there?" She asked limply. It broke Jaune's heart seeing his closest friend this way, but he wanted payback for her grueling drills.

"I'm sure you'll find others, who wouldn't want to be your friend? You're like, the nicest person I know!" He tried to give her a goofy smile but it didn't succeed in cheering her up. She had not yet told him of her relationship with her father and the true loneliness that she felt whenever he wasn't around.

"Maybe…" She closed her eyes and started to daydream.

"Come on, it's getting late, we should get back to our hotel room." Jaune had decided to pay her a visit a month before classes began at Beacon. He had all of tomorrow to spend with his beautiful friend, but the morning after that he needed to fly back home. He was unsure as to why she currently resided in Vale, but if it was important he knew that she would tell him.

Weiss opened her eyes to look her childhood friend up and down, subtly examining him. He had definitely grown over the years. Now the knight was almost an entire foot taller than her. The constant working out she forced him into had shaped him into a slim, yet toned young man, with just enough muscle. Not enough to make him look like a brute, but not too little to make him look like a twig.

He wore a simple pair of blue jeans with two brown belts crossing over his waist, and a black hoodie that had dark orange hints. Covering his hoodie was a lightweight chest plate and then shoulder plates, both allowed him to have a bit more protection, but still be exceptionally versatile in an encounter. Crocea Mors rested in its sheath on his left side securely.

He smiled at her as she started inspecting his facial features. She never told Jaune of how handsome she thought he was. His face was soft and smooth, lacking any scars or marks. His scruffy blonde hair was wild looking, but gave him a more daring sort of look. Weiss found herself getting lost in his deep blue eyes often. _So gentle… So blue…_

"Uh, Weiss? You ok?" His eyebrow raised at her and he sounded anxious. The girl noticed that _her_ young knight's hand was on her shoulder. _Wait, her? Since when did she think of him in that way?_ She shook her head and dismissed the foolish thought.

"Y-yes! Come on." Her voice was shaky, accompanied by a touch of panic. She took his hand and began to lead him, her grip was a bit too tight for Jaune's liking. The whole time she felt a growing warmth in her face as it flushed red, even after she willed it to stop.

* * *

Their hotel room was actually not just a room, it was a large (and expensive) suite. Weiss was able to afford these types of luxuries due to her family's wealth. She was thankful that Jaune did not think much of it and just saw her as a normal being, not a pile of money.

"I don't know about you, but I'm taking a bath." The girl said delightedly as she made her way to the oversized bathroom and closed the door behind her.

Jaune shrugged and went to their bedroom to change into his pajamas. His typical sleepwear consisted of a fuzzy blue onesie that suited his goofy personality perfectly.

He jumped into the king sized bed and covered up with every blanket, forming a huge mound on him, not leaving much cover for Weiss.

About an hour had passed when Weiss entered the bedroom, dressed in her faded blue sleeping gown that had her emblem in the upper left of her chest.

Her lips curled up slightly in a tiny smile, it always brought joy to her when Jaune was so relaxed. She gently slipped into bed with him, stole some blankets, and faced her back to his front.

Weiss's calm expression instantly changed into one of disbelief when the daring blonde cast an arm over her side and pulled her closer. Her composure was restored by an adorable smile, she missed this feeling. It was the first time in years that she felt his warmth in this fashion.

A caring smile was brought to Jaune's face when he felt the girl snuggle up against him even closer.

"Jaune?"

"Yes, princess?"

She blushed a shade of pink and decided to let the nickname go unchecked, considering the burden of her curiosity. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

His body tensed up against her and it was evident that he was uncomfortable talking about the subject. Then he took a deep breath and chuckled at his answer, "Well, I have girls that are my friends!"

 _I should have expected that answer._ She rolled her eyes and scowled at the boy's joke.

People seemed to be taking more interest in the knight ever since rumors of a mysterious Arc boy creating a pillar of light spread. Every kingdom had heard of the heroic deed he had done, and the loss he and his family suffered. But none had heard of the raven haired girl, that part was better left untold to the public. All they knew was that a helpless girl was gravely injured, a young boy saved her, and the assailant had fled and assassinated the expert Huntsman, Leonidas Arc. Who, just happened to be the boy's father.

Jaune had become exponentially more popular with the girls due to the story. Weiss feared that she might miss her chance, she wasn't too fond of losing this knight to any other. _It was probably his sister Alaina who told everyone about it._ _She never could keep secrets._

Once the jealousy had subsided, a more serious question popped in her head.

"Do you miss him?"

The girl felt Jaune tense up even more beside her. "Not a day goes by in which I don't think of him…" His voice was quiet and pained. " _Them_." He corrected himself.

"How did you form that beacon?" She wondered how a young boy had created such a powerful entity to save her, and she wanted to shift the subject away from his father. "How did it feel?"

"I don't know." It was obvious that the miracle was a mystery even to him. "I felt remorse, I had caused all of your pain by my failure." The words were spoken in an apologetic mumble. "Then… everything burned white, it was like all time had frozen. My body numbed as I felt my Aura pouring out quickly. Then everything faded and you looked unharmed."

"Has it happened ever since?"

He looked unhappy with his answer, "No, there's been nothing at all. Can I ask you a question?"

"You dolt, you just did!" She smiled to herself and giggled softly at her teasing of him.

"Why were you on that train?"

Her face returned to one of disgust when she remembered her reason for being there. "I-I paid those guards to help me leave Atlas. That shipment was heading toward Vale so I attempted to escape that despicable place I had called home." Toward the end of her reply her voice faded out. "L-let's just go to sleep…" She shut her eyes and wore a disturbed pout.

Jaune held her tighter, sensing her pain from the subject, and then feel asleep.

* * *

 _"_ _Why did you let me go Jaune?" Jaune looked around the gloomy forest, attempting to seek out the owner of the voice. "Why didn't you search for me?"_

 _He ran off in a direction that he believed it was coming from. His face full of distress and worriedness._

 _He sprinted through the thick red foliage and didn't see who he collided with. He was thrown on his back and looked up into the mysterious figure, a black form of nothingness. Suddenly it transformed into the body of his greatest adversary._

 _Jaune reached for Crocea Mors but found it was not in the usual place on his left hip. He was hopeless and had no chance, Adam was far too skilled._

 _Another figure of darkness appeared behind his enemy, taking the shape of his lost friend. "You are the one responsible for his death Jaune…" Her cold voiced pierced him through the heart. This was by far the greatest pain inflicted upon him in his life. The agony of having Blake say that to him with no remorse at all was unbearable. "You'll get what you deserve."_

 _He hadn't noticed Adam approaching; he was too distracted by his breaking heart. The last thing he felt was a sharp blade running directly through his heart._

* * *

"Jaune?" He was being roused awake by someone shaking him. "Jaune!" Her voice was louder and more worried.

"Uhhnn… Wha?" He spoke slowly and groggily; his thoughts were all unclear at first.

When his eyes opened he was staring straight into the most captivating winter blue orbs he had ever seen, the left one forever marked by a faded pink scar. Weiss was kneeling beside him on their bed, one of her hands rested on his chest, the other on his cheek. "Are you ok? You were talking while you slept." Her gentle voice almost lulled him back to sleep.

"Y-yeah I feel fine." He fumbled his words clumsily. "What did I say?" His cheeks deepened to a darker tint when he felt her thumb subconsciously stroke his cheek.

"Something about your father, then mumbling, then something about Blake, then I woke you up when you began to fidget and yell." She instantly yanked her hands away from his face, chastising herself for letting herself slip.

He noticed how bright the sun shined outside and wondered how late in the day it was. She was already dressed in her pale blue jacket and white combat skirt, her usual outfit.

"It's ok. We should go do something, there's no time to waste on our last day together!" He grinned and jumped out of bed so he could begin changing his clothes.

 _Gods I wish he wouldn't wear those stupid blue pajamas._

The boy was used to changing in front of her since he had done it often in the past. He quickly took off his onesie, leaving him only in boxers, and put on his same jeans from the other day.

Weiss couldn't help admiring his toned physique, she was proud of the rigorous training she forced him through. She bit her lip and started letting her imagination run wild, instead of a light pink blush, this time it deepened into a much darker shade of red. Before he was able to put his shirt on she rushed out of the bedroom.

Jaune was once again completely oblivious to the girl's emotions. Once he finished clothing himself, he exited and took his lovely friend's hand and said one abrupt word, "Food."

* * *

Jaune let Weiss decide where they would eat lunch at. By the time he woke up and prepared himself it was already past noon.

This wasn't the first time Jaune had seen how indecisive the girl could be. She was unable to choose between a small local restaurant near the hotel and a fancy expensive restaurant that she had often ate at. Half an hour later she picked the small restaurant due to her lack of desire for the press that would follow her at the high-end diner.

As they entered the family owned business, they were greeted by overwhelmingly delicious scents that confused their noses. Jaune had ordered a gigantic mountain of ribs that made Weiss's jaw drop.

"Why is that quantity even an option? Is it even possible for a human to eat that much?!" Her eyes were wide open and she stared at the mound.

"Well Weiss, I'm full of surprises." He answered smoothly and licked his lips at the food that was about to face his undivided wrath.

Weiss shook her head and began to slowly eat her healthy salad, savoring every little bit. In the meantime, Jaune got right to work at devouring all he could, and by the looks of it, he was going to need another stack soon.

Jaune finished eating his entire platter before Weiss was even halfway into her salad. She chewed another mouthful and then had a face of disbelief. "Jaune… How are you still so in shape?"

He shrugged and said coolly, "I do what I can Weiss, now hurry up! We've got a lot to do!" He had a silly smirk on his face and she put her fork down.

"Actually, I'm full." She stood up and was about to pay for the meal, but Jaune beat her to it. "Jaune, you don't have to do that for me."

"What kind of knight would I be if I were not a gentleman for a princess?" He laughed foolishly at his own joke.

She rolled her eyes and had once again blushed from something the boy said to her.

* * *

The next place the duo headed to was a training grounds. Weiss wanted to hone certain skills before her arrival at Beacon Academy. She also believed that she would be able to teach Jaune a thing or two about using his sword. He needed all of the help that he could receive, even if he was not going to be accompanying her to the academy.

They were passing through a shady part of Vale, the streets seemed more dim and glum than usual, the mood of the environment was uncomforting.

"Um, W-Weiss? Are you sure this is the right way?" The nervous boy asked shakily.

"Of course I am." She said confidently, then added, "At least I think so..." In a much quieter and uneasy voice.

A window shattered off in the distance and yelling could be heard from the same direction. The two were actually very close to where the noise had generated from. It was coming from a bright and energetic looking bar. The very original name of "The Club" with the initials JX over the title, was lit up in red flashing neon lights above the doorway.

Jaune's face grew gravely serious, almost too serious for Weiss's liking. "We should investigate."

"Jaune, do you think that's a good idea?" She looked worriedly at the club's entrance.

"We have to help, it'll be _our_ job later on. As Huntsman I mean." He accidentally let it slip that they both were going to become Huntsman and hoped that she didn't pick up on it.

Much to Jaune's chagrin, the heiress was not as oblivious as he was. "We are going to have a serious talk later tonight Jaune Arc!" She yelled in a sour and unpleasantly high voice.

He gulped in fear just thinking about what his punishment would be from her.

They made their way inside and were not expecting to see the whole place completely trashed. Shattered glass was scattered around, strobe lights were flashing out of sync, a window was left blasted open, and the DJ looked to be unconscious on his turn table.

"Let's split up and try to figure out what's going on here." Jaune said in a low voice.

Weiss nodded and headed off in a direction that was skew to his, disappearing from the boy's view.

Jaune headed to the bar in an attempt to interrogate the bartender. He didn't spot the two twins approaching him from behind. After only receiving a description of the owner, Jaune turned around to an unexpected scene that caused him to gape awkwardly.

"Could you help us?" A girl with long black hair and pale green eyes asked, her and the girl beside her both looked at him hopefully. The one who spoke wore a white dress with a bow on her chest and a white feather scarf wrapped itself around her neck.

Jaune assumed the girl beside her was the first's twin sister. Her face was identical to her sister's, except this one wore heavy dark red makeup, not cyan. Her dress was red with a bow on the left side of her waist, black fur hung from her shoulders. Both of the girls looked like they had just been involved in a fight.

"S-s-sure…" This might have been the most nervous he's ever been. "W-what do you need?" His stutters didn't seem to discourage the two disheveled looking girls. He was shocked when they pulled him into a dimly lit private room.

* * *

Immediately when Weiss was out of Jaune's view, she felt someone snag Myrtenaster from its home by her side. Before she was able to call out the thief, her mouth and eyes were covered, and her hands were tied behind her back. If she hadn't been completely taken by surprise, then she could have reacted quicker.

She was being shoved to a dark and rundown looking room in the upper part of the club. The wallpaper was partially torn from the walls, ripped curtains covered the windows, and a mattress was in the corner of the small room.

"Miss Schnee, you should know better than to enter such a dangerous part of town unprotected." The gruff sounding man threw her to the mattress.

Unfortunately, Weiss still needed practice with her Glyphs, the only way to cast them would be by using her hand motions. But her hands were restricted and her eyes were blindfolded.

* * *

Jaune was lounging back on a comfy leather sofa, with two girls completely out of his league, sitting by his sides. _Something isn't right here..._

"We've been lonely lately…" The girl dressed in red informed him lustfully from his left.

"Well, maybe talk to some of the customers that are actually interested." His attempt at dissuading them proved to be unsuccessful when she put a hand on his upper thigh, managing to make his lower regions betray him.

"They're not like you," The one in white joined her sister in teasing him, sliding her hand up higher than the other girl. "You're _special…"_

"Heh-he," His awkward laugh clearly expressed how uncomfortable he was. "W-we should really stop." He tried to get up but was held down by the lighter clothed beauty.

"You're not going anywhere." She closed her eyes and leaned in to kiss him.

He would have accepted his fate with her if it weren't for that blood-chilling shriek, " _JAUNE!"_

There was no doubt in his mind of who that came from. _This was just a distraction!_

The blonde sprang up, throwing the girls off of him with his burst of adrenaline induced strength. He wasted little time in finding the origin of the terrible screech. The path led to a sketchy looking room that was located in the upstairs of the club.

After arming his weapons, he charged at the door with his shield in front, blasting through it, shooting splinters of wood through the air.

When he peered out from behind the shield his blood boiled. Both his mind and heart raced.

Weiss's usual clothes were torn and hanging from her in tatters, leaving her underwear partially exposed and little was left to the imagination. Her hands were bound behind her back, tears streaming down her face as it was shoved up against the wall by a tall man who clamped a hand over her mouth. It looked as if a blindfold and a different piece of cloth had fallen loosely to a place around her neck. The man did not resemble the bartender's description of the club owner. Neither of the two were aware of their new arrival to the room.

The man was wearing a long overcoat and began to kiss her cheek. Weiss closed her eyes and wished that this wasn't real, but she knew better than that.

Jaune gritted his teeth, then tightened his grip on Crocea Mors. The cruel scene fueled his anger, sparking something inside of him that he never knew existed.

He ran at the disgusting man and slashed across his back, tearing through the coat and weakening his Aura. Before the enemy had a chance to react, Jaune struck the blunt hilt of his sword into his skull, most likely concussing his foe. He took advantage of the stunned man and shove him into the wall with his shield, causing it to crack and crumble.

The blonde knight walked slowly over to the aggressor who had collapsed. It was apparent that the man was not getting back up. He delivered a powerful kick to him that rolled him onto his back. Jaune could feel the Aura of the man shatter after the last hit. He raised his sword above his head, prepared to finish the job.

Weiss had never seen this side of Jaune, he was purely outraged, determined to make the man pay for his actions. Her friend's Aura was visible, looking like white flames that flickered around its owner's body.

He dropped his sword on the ground and it looked as if he was finished. Then he suddenly stomped on the man's leg, being sure to leave him crippled with multiple broken bones.

Jaune turned to Weiss and looked like he was going to vomit; he was shaking from such an intense moment. The blonde savior untied the girl and he couldn't believe that he let one of his friends down once again. He embraced his stiffened friend tightly, not caring if she was half naked. His voice quivered when he spoke, "Are you ok?"

The white haired girl nodded, she was appalled at what the man had almost succeeded in doing. Thankfully Jaune had arrived before the man was able to get what he wanted.

* * *

The next morning Jaune woke up before Weiss. He was facing her and noticed that she was frowning in her sleep. The events of the previous night were surely causing this. He then began to frown miserably; _I should have stayed with her._

After placing a delicate kiss on her forehead, Jaune careful exited the bed and went to the bathroom to shower.

This morning his visit would come to a close and he would have to leave his old friend.

When he had finished thoroughly washing himself, he hopped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He returned to the bedroom and managed to get dressed before a cute yawn was produced from a source behind him.

Jaune turned around to see Weiss leaning her back against the headboard. "What would I do without you Jaune?" Sincerity was ripe in her words.

The boy was taken by surprise with the confusing riddle she had just thrown at him. He was at a loss of words, so he decided to sit on the edge of the bed, next to her.

He put a warm hand on hers and they made eye contact. Both felt as if their gaze had been locked together for ages. "I need you…" She added in a faint voice.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that I'm coming to Beacon with you." His words reminded her of the lie he had told the other day.

She thumped his shoulder softly and did her best to hold back a laugh and maintain her fake anger. "You're going to pay for that Jaune!"

His chuckle put a smile on her face. "I have to go home soon, so I guess I'll repay you at Beacon."

"Do you have to go?"

He sighed, they both longed to stay with each other. But he knew he must get back to his family. "It won't be for long." He reassured. Jaune then planted what seemed like an innocent kiss on Weiss's forehead. Little did he know that it meant the world to the heiress. "Farewell, old friend."

As soon as the knight had departed from the room, she whispered as she stared at her small hands, "What will I do without you?"

* * *

The month leading up to Beacon sped past quickly, with only minor complications along the way. None of these snags were great enough to cease Jaune's excitement of finally being able to start his path to becoming a Huntsman.

Every single day of the month Weiss called Jaune on his scroll, no matter what circumstances. Her desire to talk with the boy was too strong for anything to stop her.

Jaune laid in his bed after a long day of exercise and time with his enthusiastic sisters. He let out a tired sigh as he turned off the lamp beside his bed. _One more night…_

He closed his eyes and felt his mind start to buzz, all of his thoughts were covered and masked by a strange fog, then he was out cold.

* * *

 _The blonde appeared in an over sized enclosed amphitheater. Worn tattered cloths hung from the upper floor of the room, giving off an eerie feeling. It was completely empty apart from one figure located in the middle of the stage._

 _He made the seemingly endless journey down the stairs, toward the stage. It was then that he noticed the singing, the most beautiful feminine voice came from the shady figure, he immediately knew who it was._

 _Once Jaune was close enough his prediction was confirmed. Why was her song so lonely? Why did she not acknowledge him?_

 _Suddenly her left eye was slashed by an invisible attacker, causing a nasty and bloody gash to appear. Her singing had died down and she wept hopelessly after collapsing to her knees._

 _"_ _Why did you leave me all alone? Why Jaune?" He felt a similar heartbreak, the same from his dream with Blake, this time it was far more painful._

 _Weiss was being dragged away by a blindingly white figure, he attempted to grab her, but his hand passed through her every time. He could do nothing._

 _It was then that a sultry and feminine voice whispered in his ear, "How does it feel, Arc?"_

 _He turned but failed to recognize yet another shadow form, this one had eyes though. They burned amber, nothing like Blake's though. Instead of curiosity, these ones were full of hate and greed._

 _"_ _It doesn't matter what you try to do, in the end you'll fail to save them…"_

 _"_ _Who are you?!" He yelled furiously, she obviously was not fazed in the slightest._

 _The mystery girl began to walk away from him. "Soon…" She was gone and so was the dream._

* * *

Jaune shot up from the horrid nightmare. He was covered in sweat and shook his head to clear his mind from the hazy fog. As he glanced at the clock he rolled out of bed. It read "3:57".

 _What's happening to me?_

The timid blonde walked over to his window and peered out at the land around his house. From his angle, he could spot the river rushing and it reminded him of a certain girl. He swore that he spotted a flicker of violet glowing orbs, but when he blinked to clear his vision they were gone.

 _Strange…_

He tore his stare away from the scene and set it upon the shattered moon. It always filled him with the most extraordinary feeling. He pondered on why this was, but gave up on trying to make up an answer.

 _Ughh… I don't want to sleep if I'm going to have another dream like that._

Jaune sat on his bed and rubbed his face in an attempt to wake himself up. _I wonder…_ He decided to message Weiss asking, "Hey Ice Queen, are you still up?"

The reply came in a voice call on his scroll from her. "You dunce! Of course I'm awake, you messaged me in the middle of the night!"

He winced from her sour attitude, "Sorry Weiss."

She accepted the blonde's sincere apology with a sigh. "Troubles sleeping again?"

"How'd you know?"

"Think about it, why else would you call me around four in the morning?"

"Your intelligence never ceases to amaze me." His sarcastic joke displeased her.

"I will hang up on you." She abruptly responded, causing Jaune's desperateness to show.

"No!" His yell was hushed in order to not wake the sleeping girls in his home. He proceeded to beg, "Pleeeeaasseee donnnnn't leeeeave mee!"

"What was it about this time?"

"You, actually." Worry struck her after the answer.

"W-what about me?" She was intrigued and hoped that it was of the two expressing their emotions for each other.

"Well… You were singing about being lonely in a huge theater, and then something slashed your eye, creating a bloody mess, then you were carried away by someone and I didn't see you again."

She was silent at first, that was definitely not what she expected to hear. "A-anything else?" As she asked, she gently traced the jagged scar over her eye. She vividly recalled how she had received the eternal mark; she would never forget that moment.

"A myst—" He cut himself off, not wanting to scare her any more by revealing the detail of the woman. "No, I woke up after that. There was a strange haziness in my head before and after the dream, just like the last bad dream I had…"

"That's peculiar, maybe you just need to eat healthier before sleep. Your diet definitely needs improvement."

"I am very healthy!" He defended himself and then added, "I'm sorry for waking you so late, get some rest Weiss."

"It's ok, you just needed to tell me something you thought was important. Feel free to do it again if you must." The sleepy heiress was able to partially smile at the boy's trust in her. "Sleep well Jaune."

"You too."

* * *

"Here we go…" The nervous blonde mumbled as he entered a Bullhead. Immediately his stomach flipped upside down and his face turned green. He quickly made his way over to a bench near a window and sat there in hopes of calming his air sickness. The ship took off and he just hoped that the flight was a short distance.

Jaune looked around at some of the other first year students and only four of them in particular stood out to him. He started to discreetly inspect them, trying to not creep anyone out too much.

The first and most mesmerizing was an attractive blonde with pale skin. Her eyes were lilac and her hair flowed down her back in beautifully messy locks. She seemed to be having an intense conversation.

What she wore on her gifted body was completely stunning. Over her busty chest was a brown vest with a yellow crop top underneath, an orange scarf was wrapped around her neck. On her hands she wore fingerless gloves with thick yellow bracelets. Her legs were mostly exposed by black short shorts that had a brown belt on the front, and a pleated brown back skirt that was over a longer white skirt. _Where was her weapon?_

The girl speaking with the blonde was shorter and younger looking. Her short hair was black and red then her eyes… _Silver eyes, my father told me legends of those who had them. They were tremendously rare._

What she wore was far more reserved than her friend. She wore a black blouse with lower red lacing and a combat skirt, similarly fashioned to Weiss's. A blood red cloak was pinched to her blouse by two cross shaped pins. On one side of her hip was an emblem, the other side had a strange mechanical looking object, most likely her weapon. Her entire outfit was composed of red and black.

Jaune looked for the third interesting girl but found that she was sprinting around the ship, chasing after a scared looking young man who wore a green tailcoat and white pants. The orange haired girl leapt on the black haired boy and poked his nose lightly before saying, "Boop!"

His stomach had begun to churn and he knew he wouldn't be able to hold his breakfast down any longer. He shot up and slapped a hand on his mouth while he made his way to a trashcan. _Oh no… No, no, No!_ Against his will some of the contents of his stomach spilled onto the blonde beauty's shoe, causing her to repeatedly yell, "Gross!" Jaune sped off in an attempt to avoid any teasing and to find a reasonable place to vomit.

He managed to hold his food in until they landed, a trashcan right on the air docks worked perfectly to let out any more of his sickness. He reeked now and would have to find a place to clean up, thankfully a bathroom was nearby.

When he exited, Jaune saw that the same redhead from the flight was being scolded by a familiar heiress. He did not pay any notice to the black haired girl walking slowly away from the scene. The blonde smiled to himself and was going to take advantage of the opportunity.

He ran to her speedily and tapped on her shoulder lightly, "Psstt."

"Oh what now!?" She turned around with a scowl but that was replaced by pure joy. "Jaune!"

"Are you being nice?" He already knew the answer and raised an eyebrow.

"Well… She caused this!" The Ice Queen pointed an accusatory finger at the redhead.

"What! It was an accident!" The redhead's voice was high pitched and squeaky.

"Weiss, were you overreacting?" He smirked and was aware that this was a valid possibility.

She scoffed in annoyance, "This is ridiculous!" And with that, the girl was on her way to the assembly.

"Hey… I'm Jaune." He extended his hand to shake.

"Ruby." The redhead replied, returning the shake, and then tilted her head in curiosity. "Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"

The boy just groaned and they continued to walk and talk, managing to get lost in the process.

* * *

Once the two had entered the assembly, Ruby rushed away to that same blonde from the ship.

"Hey! Wait! Ugh… where else am I supposed to find a nice quirky girl to talk to?" Little did he know that a certain spartan behind him sympathized for the boy.

Jaune looked around for Weiss because she was the only other person there that he knew. Of course he found her hounding Ruby yet again.

He rolled his eyes and approached the three girls and interjected, "I'm a natural blonde you know?" The random comment was an attempt to distract Weiss.

The heiress clenched her fists and glowered at her friend, this caused the other two girls to giggle and Jaune to smirk. All of them then centered their attention at the man on the stage, who apparently was Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon.

* * *

Jaune made his way down the empty halls away from the ballroom. _Where's a guy supposed to grab a midnight snack in this place?_ His stomach was grumbling when he heard voices coming from around the next corner.

The first to speak spit out his words in rapid fire. "Peter, we must make sure no students decided to sneak about in the night! Ahh it reminds me of the good old days, do you recall our first day, Port?"

A booming disruptive voice replied with, "Oh yes, it's as if we just arrived at the academy yesterday, Bart."

The blonde knight was thinking of any way out of his doomed situation. A lightbulb appeared in his head when he spotted a closet and he stumbled into it, just as the reminiscing professors rounded the corner.

He felt a warmth in the dark closet and was surprised at what his hands had landed on. He held onto two soft orbs only for a split second before receiving a staggering blow to the face that pushed his back against the wall. "What the…?" He asked in an almost muted voice, confused on if he was just hit by a cleaning utensil or something.

"What do you think you're doing Mr. Grabby Hands!?" The girly whisper resembled the beautiful blonde's from earlier. A hint of irritation was in her voice.

The miniature room began to heat up and Jaune swore that he saw the tips of the girl's luscious hair ignite into tiny flames. "I'm sorry, I didn't expect someone else to take my hiding spot!" The girl could tell that the words coming out of his mouth were nervous yet sincere, and that it was a total accident.

"You owe me. Why were you out of the ballroom anyway?"

"Midnight snack. You?"

"Midnight snack." She chuckled quietly and added, "I got lost in the maze-like halls."

"Seriously, why isn't there a sign pointing to the food?!" He had a goofy grin on his face but it wasn't visible due to the darkness of the room.

Her giggle grew and she smiled to herself as he went on with his rant, "Every academy should be required to have directions to the nearest food court posted in every hallway!"

"You know, you should quiet down Lady-Killer, I would hate for us two to be caught like this." The room cooled down but he could still feel the girl's warm breath on his neck. It made tingles go down his back and he blushed from being in such a close proximity with a girl like this.

"You're right." There was a long pause so that they could listen for any other outside noise. "You think the coast is clear?"

"There's only one way to find out." A mischievous smirk was painted on her face as she recklessly shoved the boy out of the closet and followed him.

Jaune fell on his back and looked up to see the smiling blushing blonde standing in a compromising position over him. She offered him a hand, "I'm Yang by the way. Ruby's sister."

"Jaune Arc."

"Hm, short and sweet. I like it." She pulled him up and they walked back to the slumber party. Thankfully, they didn't have any encounters with the patrolling professors.

* * *

Most of the students were asleep already. The ones who weren't included the two blondes, Ruby, Weiss, a girl distanced from the rest with her face buried in a book, and a daydreaming spartan. Jaune decided to get some rest too before Initiation tomorrow.

He went to the bathroom to change into his fuzzy onesie. The strange outfit received ridiculing stares from his friends. None of the jokes bothered the blonde though, he was certain that he was more comfortable than any of the other teens in the room. Jaune made his way over to a secluded corner and laid down alone.

It didn't take long for his frosty haired friend to join him; she was mumbling something about an obnoxious redhead.

"Rough first day?" He smiled at the irritated girl.

"You couldn't imagine. I haven't made any new friends."

"It's only your first day Weiss, don't worry about it."

She sighed, discouraged, "That's easy for you to say."

"You'll be fine." As she laid down on her own sleeping bag, he petted her head gently until she drifted off. He also had shortly after her.

* * *

 _"_ _You were not there to help, now it is too late Jaune." The mysterious fire eyed woman approached him._

 _"_ _What are you talking about?" He asked in a panic. His feet would not let him back away from her, it was as if they were bolted to the ground. She sidestepped and stood by his right side._

 _The scene appeared to him slowly. He was in a burning classroom, the room was falling apart and then he noticed others crying._

 _Jaune looked to the ground and his eyes widened in horror, his heart rate sped. "Y-yang?"_

 _The blonde laid on the ground, holding a shadow person's hand. As his gaze strayed to her other, his knees began to shake._

 _Her arm had been sliced cleanly off and was bleeding profusely. It appeared as if she was dead or dangerously close to it. In an instant the scene of the two disappeared and he was once again left with the evil woman._

 _"_ _Why are you showing me this?!" His voice was strained and his fists were clenched. "Why show me all of these horrifying things?"_

 _"_ _You have potential Jaune, and you could be very powerful, only if you join us when the time comes... You could stop all of this." Her convincing didn't appear to have an immediate effect on the blonde._

 _"_ _This won't ever happen; this is just a dream. Even if you are real, I would never join you." Her quiet yet treacherous cackle made it to his ears._

 _A pair of glowing violet eyes approached him slowly. They made his mind hazy, he tried to look away but was unable to. Once they reached him he lost control of his mind, he started having abnormal thoughts that weren't his own._

* * *

His eyes snapped open to escape the peculiarly hypnotic eyes and the chanting. _Maybe I just need some fresh air._

Jaune stood up and made his way to the balcony, dodging the bodies of sleeping students as if they were mines. He passed through the doors and closed them behind him. When he turned he jumped back and accidentally hit the door.

The other person on the balcony turned to look at the flustered boy. In the darkness he could only see the vivid-green eyes that seemed to glow. She giggled softly and stifled it with a hand. "I was convinced I was the only student awake this late." Her voice was sweet and beautiful, like music to Jaune's ears.

"I could say the same thing. Why are you up?" She saw that his eyes were a deep and soft blue.

She turned to look at the school grounds. "Just nervous, I suppose."

"I bet you'll be fine; you have a better chance here than I do." He joked but looked down in shame after standing by her side.

"What do you mean?" The girl asked curiously and tilted her head at Jaune.

He huffed and stated, "I'm a failure…"

"How so?"

"It's a long story." His attempt to avoid the conversation failed.

"I have time, a whole night actually." It was obvious that she cared about his situation. She flashed another smile, but they could only see the outlines of each other's bodies and their eyes.

"Well long story short, I lost my father and my first friend in one night. If I could have been stronger maybe I could have stopped it. Now I'm here, hoping that I can become strong enough to protect those that I love." His voice trailed off.

"Y-you're the Arc boy, aren't you?" She briefly praised him like a celebrity, then realized his pain and instantly became somber.

He shrugged and brushed the question off. "Yeah, I guess."

"I've heard all about you and your family, there was no way you could have stopped that from happening… It's not your fault." He felt her hand gently holding his forearm. His eyes adjusted enough to see her sympathetic frown that showed him how concerned she was.

The boy smiled at her response to the whole ordeal. He had expected her to praise and obsess over him, just like the other girls who made the connection. Little did he know that she related to him in a way, she just wanted someone to see her for who she was.

"It all happened for a reason that we may not know now, but maybe it plays a part in the bigger picture of your life." She had turned and leaned her hands on the balcony railing.

Her entire mood had turned into a sort of longing, as if she just discovered something for the first time. Jaune put his hand on her shoulder as she concluded, "Perhaps it was just your _destiny_ to be brought here…"

* * *

 **Well there we go… I know it was slower than last chapter and not as action packed, but next one will be more exciting with Initiation. Don't worry about Blake either, I haven't forgotten about the mysterious Faunus girl. She will play a larger role in the next chapter considering she was barely in this one.**

 **The last scene with Pyrrha was painful to write. She was my second favorite character in the show and I didn't expect her to be gone, just like that. I assure you that I have bigger plans for the spartan now than I had initially. Also, I want to have more of an emphasis on her interest in destiny, only because she spoke of it in her final words and it had such a great impact.**

 **Seriously though, I listened to Shine (the song from Pyrrha and Jaune's dance) when I was writing and had to take a break to curl in a ball and cry.**

 **Last but not least, thanks for the amazing support guys and girls. I can't possibly show you all how thankful I am. Don't forget to leave a review if you want to tell me what you liked/disliked, and I'll see you next chapter.**


	3. Initiation and Reunion

**Ok so sounds like you guys really want Ruby to get some love from Jaune too. Hmm… Will I let that happen? I think I might.**

 **Anyways, thanks a ton for the immense amount of support. I still am not too sure how this happened, but I'm loving writing for you guys, that being said, I plan on continuing this story for a loooong time. And now, let's get on to Initiation. (I don't own RWBY at all)**

* * *

"Destiny? What do you mean?" Jaune was completely perplexed by the stranger accompanying him on the balcony.

There was a drawn out pause that made Jaune's curiosity peak. She looked up at him and stared into his blue eyes, not saying anything else. As their eyes adjusted to the dark and the moon was exposed from a cloud, the glistening light revealed the faces of the two teens to each other.

"Ok… Next question I guess... Could I at least know your name? It's only fair since you know mine now." His goofy smile helped to make her smile reappear.

"Pyrrha Nikos," she said. A spark of fear in her mind warned that he might recognize her as the champion spartan who won tournaments, the famous Untouchable Girl. Before her fret could burn out of control, his words extinguished it.

"Cool name! Not as short and sweet as mine though." Jaune's joking smirk caused the girl to giggle once again.

"If you say so, Jaune." The girl attempted to hide her excitement and bliss, it was few and far between to find someone that had never heard of her.

"Do you plan on staying up all night? You should rest, you wouldn't want to be too tired for Initiation tomorrow," He started to walk back to the ballroom in a small chuckle. "Heh, or else you might end up with a loser like me."

 _What if I'd like to be with a guy like you though?_ Pyrrha asked herself as she followed the blonde back inside.

* * *

Jaune passed by Weiss and Pyrrha as they spoke. He was frantically searching for his locker that he accidently placed his gear in the other day.

"So, Pyrrha, have you given any thought to whose team you'd like to be on? I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well-known individual as yourself." Weiss asked, truly desiring to be on the champion's team.

The blonde boy perked up after finding his locker and was intrigued by the two's conversation. Now in the light, he was able to see Pyrrha in her full glory. Her flowing red hair reached about waist-length. She seemed to be taller than the rest of the girls that he had met there and was quite muscular.

The outfit that the redhead wore made her appear as a spartan-like fighter type. Her strapless top looked to be bronze sturdy metal, most of her outfit consisted of the material. On her arms she wore a pair of dark brown long sleeves, the left one was partially covered by a bronze brace. An extremely short, elastic, red miniskirt was worn on her toned legs and a long, ankle-length drapery hung from her waist, down to her bronze greaves and leather boots. The color of the drape resembled her hair. Secured on her back was a bronze shield and spear, the spear had red highlights marked in certain places, then on her right hip there was a shield and spear emblem, predictably, made of bronze.

The final accessories were a large bronze necklace and a matching circlet adorned atop her head. Decorated with tear-shaped emeralds hanging from chain loops on it.

Light green eyeshadow in the upper corner of her eyes accentuated her piercing, vivid-green eyes perfectly. The softness and care of her face was clear, making her look innocent and beautiful.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may." Pyrrha acted like her usual self, but hid her dislike for how the heiress ignorantly put her on a pedestal.

"Well… I was thinking maybe we could be on a team together!"

"Well that sounds grand!" The redhead wasn't against being on Weiss's team, she just had other people in mind…

"It looks like someone might have made a friend!" Jaune had snuck up behind Weiss and tousled her hair. "I'm so proud of you!"

"Jaune!" She whipped around, he could easily picture fumes of anger steaming from her ruffled hair. In a sour whine she yelled, "You're going to pay for that!"

"Hello again, Jaune." Pyrrha made him notice her as the disgruntled Schnee stomped off.

"Hey Pyrrha. You never told me you were so famous." He simply smiled, not trying to put much emphasis on it.

Her gaze dropped to the ground and she looked upset something, "My popularity is not something that I enjoy flaunting…"

"Well on the bright side, at least it helps with getting you teammates. I may be 'special' for whatever reason people think, but that doesn't hide the fact that I'm a lousy fighter. No one wants to be on my team…" His tone of dejection ripped the smile off his face.

"I would love to be on your team!" Pyrrha's ecstatic expression shocked the boy.

A new look of disbelief crossed his face, "Really?"

"Of course." She felt as if the humble boy was a lot more than what meets the eye.

An announcement called out for all of the first year students to meet at Beacon Cliff for their Initiation. Pyrrha said farewell to the boy, then walked through the door leading outside, not wanting to be a second late. An eager red blur followed her out shortly after. _How is Ruby so fast?_

Yang walked slowly over to him and asked, "Nervous, Lady Killer?"

He gulped, "Is it that obvious?"

"You'll be fine, and if not, you'll probably have backup close by."

"Who?" He looked confused and she shook her head with a sly smile.

"We've got your back now, were all friends. But I'm not too sure about Weiss yet... Even if Ruby is two years younger, she will fight for any friend in need." She laughed softly and added, "Come on, we better not be too late."

* * *

As the two walked out to the cliff side, they noticed that the headmaster and Glynda were already speaking to the students that were lined up on platforms.

The blondes hastened their pace and stepped onto their platform, Yang was located on Ruby's left, Jaune on Ruby's right.

The boy listened closely to the speech, but had already missed the part about them being launched off the cliff. _Ok, make eye contact with a partner, find the relic… Wait then what?_ He spotted his fellow first years being launched off high into the air and his eyes shot open.

"Uhh… S-sir? What exactly is going on?" His panic-stricken voice humored the headmaster, but the older man showed none of it.

"Initiation, young man." His statement sounded matter-of-fact like.

And with that, Jaune was sent flying off through the sunny blue sky, his nausea hitting him like a truck. His face was painted green and his stomach plummeted horribly. As he neared the ground he scrunched his eyes shut, knowing the inevitable contact would kill him.

Suddenly, he felt something snag the hood of his sweatshirt, hurling him into a hard and solid surface.

When his eyes shot open, he immediately shut them. He had been pinned high up in a tree by a bronze spear. _It looks like this is the end. I'll be stuck here for forever; I'll probably be gobbled up by a Nevermore. Goodbye cruel world…_

Then a familiar while kind voice broke his internal moping, "Jaune? Are you injured?" The voice of the girl seemed to contain certain concern for him.

His eyes opened and immediately made contact with the redhead spartan, Pyrrha, from earlier.

"Y-yeah! Just a bit shaken up I guess." He was thrilled to have a skilled warrior by his side, but felt a sense of pity. The possibility of him being a great burden to her was pinned in his thoughts. "Kinda stuck in a tree currently."

The knight began to pry the spear out of the wood in an effort to be released. "Jaune…"

The girl's warning was too late, by the time she spoke, the boy had wrenched the metal from its place. Now he was falling quickly, with no hope of anything lessening the impact. It had to be almost a sixty-foot fall.

When his body connected with the hard turf, the air was expelled from his body. Her spear landed shortly after him, sinking into the dirt closely to his right, cutting through the fabric of the side of his hoodie.

Pyrrha covered her mouth and widened her eyes in horror while the white Aura around him flashed weakly. This was a warning that his energy reserves were dangerously low. _What have I done?! I almost killed him!_

Jaune started to pick himself up slowly but he collapsed. His chest burned and felt like it was going to burst. He slowly began to breathe again and attempted to calm himself. _That was a huge mistake…_ He thought.

Pyrrha ran over to him and slowly assisted the knight in picking himself up. "I'm sorry!" Her voice sounded truly hurt and full of regret.

It took a while for him to reply and when he spoke his chest burned worse. "It's ok, without you I would have died from the initial fall." His voice was hoarse and weak, "Thanks to my sizable Aura reserves, I'm still alive." His words were cut off and he added in a smaller voice, "Barely."

The girl was too ashamed to speak. She retrieved her spear and put her arm under his and across his back to help him walk.

"I should be back to normal soon." As they walked in a random direction, the spartan could feel his Aura regenerating rapidly, helping to ease her distress.

* * *

She made her way through the woods silently and quickly, not being spotted by any Grimm. As she went along, her keen ears picked up voices coming from ahead of her. She scaled a tree after confirming that it had enough cover to keep herself concealed. Two beings stood below her, only thirty feet away.

The first one she inspected was a redhead with a shield and spear on her back. The second…

 _No… Why is he here?_ Her eyes sprang wide as the familiar clumsy blonde walked with the help of the redhead. At first she was not sure if it was him, but her worst fears came true as the emblem on his sheath revealed itself to her.

"Jaune…" Was all the raven-haired girl uttered quietly before the view of the two became obscured by branches. She ran off in the opposite direction from her childhood friend, determined to not confront him. It was obvious to her that she must not form feelings for the boy once again, or else she would suffer like she had as a child.

Eventually the sounds of explosions and a yelling girl caused her ears to perk up and pursue where the noises came from.

* * *

Jaune was now able to walk on his own, not needing the help of his new partner. She had not said a word since the accident. He felt bad for her, all she wanted to do was help.

"You know Pyrrha, you saved my life back there."

He received no response, her blank stare aimed at the ground.

"And I'm extremely thankful and owe you one…"

Nothing.

"And I'm even more thankful to have you as my partner."

She looked up at him curiously. He had a silly grin that she couldn't ignore. She smiled lightly and he patted her shoulder and added, "I think I'm going to like this partnership. We go well together." His kind words had unintentionally caused her face to redden slightly. He knew that she cared about his safety and it was a mystery to him on why.

"Wait come back!" A squeaky girl's voice yelled.

Shortly after the shout, the two partners spotted Weiss hurriedly walking away from Ruby, who was chasing after the heiress. Weiss walked up to Jaune and had a jealous pout as she noticed who his partner was.

"Could we please trade?" She practically begged him.

He chuckled and smiled knowingly at his friend, "Weiss, come on. I know that she's younger than the rest of us, but Ruby is here for a reason. Ozpin would not have allowed her into Beacon early if he hadn't seen potential in her."

"But— "

Jaune cut her off before she could complain anymore, "She's not that bad. She's pretty funny actually." Ruby had caught up to the other three. "Now, let's make our way to wherever the forest temple is."

* * *

The four eventually reached the temple and were surprised to see Yang and her partner there, already choosing their relics. Her partner shied away from the group, trying to avoid the attention of a certain blonde knight.

Jaune was to oblivious to notice who that partner happened to be, and he was focused on the mission mainly. It didn't help that they all were distracted by a booming explosion.

An Ursa emerged from the forest edge and collapsed to reveal an orange haired girl who apparently was riding it.

A winded and stressed black haired boy came out shortly after. "Nora, don't ever do that again…" He sounded worried and struggled to speak between loud breaths.

The other six had stared, absolutely stunned as the wild girl apparently named Nora ran over to grab her own relic.

The sharp cracks of trees being crushed and splintered drew the attention of the young Huntsmen back to the forest edge. A Death Stalker suddenly burst through and began charging at them. An excited glint in Ruby's eyes hinted at what she was about to do.

The redhead shot toward the Grimm with unreal speed, a scythe in hand.

"Ruby!" Yang was too slow to stop her. The girl attempted to slice through the form of the beast, but was easily knocked back. Her chances of defeating a Grimm of this size were slim to none.

The little reaper began to run away, not paying any attention to the Nevermore approaching from above. With a flutter of its wings, a volley of large sharp feathers hurled themselves at the girl, snagging her red cloak and tacking it to the ground.

The cloak was too durable for her to rip away, she was stuck, waiting for the Death Stalker to viciously rip her apart. Though before any of that could occur, a streak of white showed an heiress gliding to Ruby's aid, saving her from the clutches of the monster.

The two shaken girls returned as fast as possible, Yang greeted Ruby with a sisterly hug and yelled, "I'm so glad you're ok!"

Weiss nodded and said, "There's no point in wasting time, our objective is right in front of us."

Ruby supported her partner saying, "She's right. Our mission is to grab a relic and return to the Cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."

Jaune smiled, "Now that's an idea I'm fine with."

Jaune and Ruby ran over to collect a relic, he grabbed a white rook, she chose a white knight. Neither of them had chosen their specific pieces for a particular reason. As they acquired them, the two smiled at each other.

There was no time to sit idly by, they had to get moving. "Time we left." The black haired boy spoke calmly and clearly.

All of the teens made their way to the crumbling bridge they had to cross in order to escape the woods. All except for Yang and her partner.

Yang was smiling proudly at her little sister when her partner asked, "What is it?"

"Nothing…" She was overjoyed for her sister; her dreams were finally coming true. Then the two were on their way to catch up with the others.

Once they all reached the bridge, the first to cross were Ruby, Weiss, Yang and her partner. Before the four others could cross, the Nevermore from earlier crashed straight into the bridge, causing a portion of it to collapse, cutting the other four off.

To make matters worse, the Death Stalker had broken free of its icy prison and now was presented in front of them. Ready to strike.

"Let's go!" Jaune yelled as their four rushed toward it, weapons at the ready. The first strike by the monster was planned to hit Pyrrha, but she easily deflected it with her shield and countered with a slash. As it went in for another attack on her, Jaune came to her aid and knocked the claw back, surprising the spartan with his substantial strength. With the window Jaune opened for her, Pyrrha was able to avoid the creature and attack its face.

Somehow, the black haired ninja had made his way up onto the tail of the Death Stalker and peppered it with his green bullets. Nora launched grenades at the claws whenever they attempted to harm her allies.

Pyrrha lancing her spear into the Grimm's eye caused it to forcefully fling the ninja off of its tail, smashing him into a wall. Nora yelled, "Ren!" As soon as he slid down the wall and slumped on the ground.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune hoped that his partner had noticed the stinger about to fall off.

"Done!" She hurled the round shield at the stinger and severed it, making it fail into the head of the beast. For some strange reason, the shield revolved back around, right back to Pyrrha's hand, but Jaune had no time to ponder it.

"Nora!" Jaune called for the orange haired girl. It was as if everyone was able to read his mind to foretell their next move in the masterplan.

"You've got it!" Her yell was in a cheery voice, almost too chipper for the entire situation. She leapt off Pyrrha's shield and soared from it, high into the air, then plummeted down to nail the stinger deeper into the Death Stalker's skull. During the entirety of this time her beaming face only grew wider. After she hammered it in she jumped onto land and the beast collapsed along with the remaining ruins of the bridge.

Immediately following the brilliant display of teamwork, the four regrouped in hopes to witness an even greater one. But it appeared that the other four teens had already dispatched their foe.

Ruby stood atop the cliff, staring at something up there with her. It looked as if she was petrified in fear. _Something wrong is going on up there…_

Jaune's mind raced and quickly pieced together a plan to reach the top. "Pyrrha, get ready for me to boost off your shield, Nora, you're going to launch me off of it." He looked to where Weiss was at and called out to her, "Weiss, I'm gonna need some of your Glyphs!"

Pyrrha positioned herself at the edge of the broken bridge, reluctant to go along with her partner's plans. She tilted her shield toward Jaune and he began to sprint toward it, Nora was directly behind him, hammer at the ready.

When Jaune's feet made contact with the shield, he perfectly timed his jump with the impact of Nora's hammer on the surface. The combination successfully launched the knight through the air, projected in an arc to the cliff.

The momentum he had ran out, he was so close, yet it was not enough.

Thankfully, Weiss was able to form an intricate snowflake shaped platform for him to land on. The girl formed multiple platforms for him to reach his destination and by the time he reached it, she was ready to collapse, her Aura was drained.

Jaune's hands clung to the edge of the cliff and it took all of his strength to pull himself up. Ruby looked completely frozen, her face paled in horror.

It was then that he realized what had caused her fearful state. A King Taijitu was slithering and coiling right in front of her, and by the looks of it, this was not the first encounter it has had with a human. If the snake had been younger, it would not have been a problem for the little girl. But this one appeared to be wizened and more aware due to its long life and past experiences, he could tell because of the long, protruding spikes that were now retracting back into the scaly skin it wore. Only aged types of this Grimm grew those on their spines. Each spike on the creature contained a toxin, capable of killing an ordinary person, or severely injuring a being protected by Aura. Since the spikes were retracting, it meant they had recently been used, and were in preparation for another round.

"Ruby! You have to move!" The redhead had no response to his words, she looked sickly and weak. One of her tiny hands clung to her right shoulder desperately.

Jaune sprinted at her and lightly shoved her out of the way, attempting to distract the two-headed snake from the girl. He took out Crocea Mors and bashed it against his shield in a loud taunt. "Come on! I bet I'm tastier!" Was all his fearing mind could manifest. The last thing that Ruby remembered before passing out was the white knight protecting her.

The first to try and snap at Jaune was the white head. He instinctively rolled out of the way and had barely any time to react as the black head snapped on his shield arm. It tried to close its mouth on the shield, but no amount of force was able to crush the strange material. The special shield was lodged in the serpent's mouth securely, propping it open. One of the sharp fangs inside began to push into his arm, the brunt of the pain was absorbed by his drained Aura.

Jaune retrieved his arm from the mouth, deciding to leave the shield inside, and spun around to have the white head bash sharply into his chest, sending him forcefully backwards into the ground.

He felt like his chest had been shattered, he couldn't get up. His body ached after the long day, his Aura was wilting away, and he was exhausted. But the desire to protect his friend urged him to rise again.

He wielded Crocea Mors and charged valiantly at the white headed portion of the King Taijitu, the other segment of it was still attempting to gnaw through the indestructible shield. The head jabbed at Jaune but he succeeded in leaping over and landing on top as it thrashed about, straining to eject the passenger from his spot.

Jaune was clinging to the serpent for his life, his opportunity arose when the thrashing ceased momentarily. He raised his glowing white sword with both hands and sank it deeply into the Grimm's skull. It seared right through the evil flesh. A sigh of relief was released by the boy as the creature's body went limp.

 _Now the next one…_

Unfortunately for the blonde, the remaining enemy learned how to spit the lodged shield from its mouth. It slithered toward the knight as he charged right back at it. At the last second before contact he slid by the left side of the snake and sliced its side wide open. It had dropped limply, Jaune assumed the entire King Taijitu was done for. He didn't observe that the Grimm did not faded into dust like they usually did after death…

The white knight was a glowing blur as he ran over to Ruby's side. It was growing dark outside, making his dazzlingly bright Aura stand out. A sort of beacon formed around him, this all seemed too familiar for the boy.

Jaune knelt beside the injured girl and spotted a torn spot on her top, located on her right shoulder. Blood was slowly trickling from it and Jaune was unable to tell if the girl was breathing, but he sensed her remaining Aura and that was a good sign. Her face was deathly pale as the blonde ran his glowing hand over her shoulder and extracted a thorn injected there by the snake. He applied pressure to the wound and his pure white Aura poured into her and surrounded her body. "Don't worry Ruby, you'll be fine…" His whisper was meant to soothe him more than her, "She'll be ok… Please don't fail me now..." He encouraged his powers and hoped that by some miracle they would succeed in healing her.

His Aura had been drained to the last percent when he felt a searing pain shoot through his side and a large thorn prick his skin. The triumphant hiss reached his ears from beside him.

A pyre of uncontrollable white light exploded into the sky, and in the blink of an eye, it vanished into the young night. The poisoned and defeated boy collapsed beside his friend and allowed the darkness of what he assumed was death, swallow him.

* * *

" _Was it worth it?" Jaune knew this voice well by now, it was his evil tormentor._

" _What?"_

" _You gave your life for her…" An irritating laugh came from the amber eyed woman._

" _I-I'm dead?"_

 _Her disturbing cackle grew louder as his broken face began to show. "No child, but lives will be taken, who will it be Jaune?" His mind began to race; he didn't understand why this was happening to him." You, or them?"_

 _Jaune noticed the violet eyed girl appear beside the mysterious woman. She was slightly shorter than the knight and looked as old as him. Her blonde hair flowed down to her waist and her skin was slightly tanned. For some odd reason, her face was full of shame, a frown that confused the boy._

" _What do you mean?"_

 _Once again one of his friends blinked into existence before him._

 _The spartan was on her knees and looked helpless, her gaze directed toward a shadow figure in front of her who held a glass bow with a drawn arrow._

 _He knew whatever he did would not help._

" _Do you believe in destiny?" The weak words were uttered from Pyrrha immediately before an arrow pierced her chest, causing her head to limply slant downward. The words regarding destiny burnt inside of his mind, he would never forget them._

" _NO!" His insides began to burn, tears welled in his eyes, his heart felt as if it ceased all together. Jaune's body glowed with his signature, ethereal white glow. He was not sure why his connection to the redhead was strong enough to trigger this form._

 _A shadow hand then pressed to the side of the girl's head, incinerating her entire body, leaving behind her bronze circlet. Her ashes were scattered in the wind; all the boy could do was attempt to catch the ashes in an effort to mend her, but he miserably failed._

 _Jaune fell to his knees in defeat and clung to the headdress, holding it preciously while shaking. He whimpered in pain, "Pyrrha…"_

" _Impressive..." The amber eyed villain smiled at her success in evoking his power. "I look forward to our next meeting…"_

* * *

The blonde knight was woken but unable to open his eyes. He heard agitated yelling all around him but could not distinguish their origin or what they said. It felt as if someone was carrying him in a rush. He was unable to move any limb and shortly fell back asleep.

Once he woke again it seemed more calm. All he heard were multiple hushed whispers and an annoying beeping coming from his side. The abilities to move and open his eyes were still unavailable to him. This time, he could feel a soft padding underneath him, calling him back to his slumber.

Jaune was called back to consciousness and wondered if his eyes would open. The injured blonde felt a hand on his, it was warm with a tight grip. Then he realized that there was another being with him, on his other side was a soft body that had an arm resting on his chest. He groaned gently and gave a slight squeeze to the hand holding his.

"J-Jaune?" The heiress's soft voice squeaked.

He felt the girl lying beside him shift in bed. When his eyes opened he stared into those caring winter eyes that he had known for so long. It was obvious that she had been crying, this being shown by the tear-soaked spot on his chest and her dampened face.

The hand holding his began to tighten, calling him to turn his head to the other side in search of who it was. He was surprised to see that the hand belonged to the blonde, Yang.

She had also been crying. Her eyes stared into his with a look of true concern. "I-I should go now… I just wanted to make sure you were fine." Her voice sounded much more fragile than her usual. It was abnormal to see the usually upbeat girl in such a gloomy mood. The girl began to stand and turned away from them.

"Oh no you're not. You sat here the whole time with me, it's obvious that your reason for staying is deeper than what you say." His icy friend's tone was accusatory but not as sharp as usual. Weiss had mercy for the other girl due to the recent events involving her sister.

Yang exhaled deeply as another tear pattered slowly down her face. She couldn't resist turning around and rushing to the boy to hug him along with Weiss. The two girls were crushing the air out of his frail body.

"Guys…" His strained, raspy voice struggled with that first word.

"Sorry!" They both simultaneously whined in embarrassment as they loosened their grasp, though they still held onto him.

His attempt at a chuckle resulted in a wheeze. "What happened?" He could sense that his Aura levels were still low.

Weiss was the first to explain softly, being mindful of Jaune's predicament, "Once we were all able to scale the cliff, we saw that you had defeated half of a King Taijitu, the other was barely alive."

Yang continued, "Just as we got there one of those toxic barb things shot into you, causing a huge beam of light to shoot out of you." Weiss had explained Jaune's mysterious abilities and how he saved her while the boy slept.

"Before we were able to assist in any way, Glynda arrived and finished the Grimm off. She commanded us to carry you and Ruby back to the school…" His old friend's voice quieted down at the conclusion. "I thought you were dead…" She buried her face in his chest to hide her returning spring of tears, clinging to his hoodie as if trying to tear it off. He soothingly stroked her frosty hair in order to calm her. It made sense that she was greatly disturbed, he was the lonely girl's first true friend, and he had saved her life.

"You almost died to save Ruby," Yang had a tone of unending gratitude. Jaune spotted tears welling in her eyes, a single glistening drop flowed down her cheek and he wiped it away.

"And I'd do it again in a heartbeat." He sounded stronger and his face of pain turned into a small goofy grin. "You're my friends, and I'll always protect you no matter what."

Yang's heart burned with a warm, delightful, yet unidentifiable feeling. Those words meant the world to her. He had a good and pure heart, one that was big enough to sacrifice everything, just to save her sister. She would never forget the white knight's dumb, yet heroic act.

Jaune never imagined of being in a position like this before. He was lying in bed with two amazing girls holding onto him. He loved being able to show his friends how much they meant to him.

Yang suddenly broke his thought process and locked eyes with him, speaking carefully, "Thank you, Jaune."

He nodded then smiled humbly in reply. Then the boy wondered, "How long was I out?" His head tilted in curiosity and he continued to stroke Weiss's hair.

"Um… Two weeks…" Yang was unsure of how the knight would take this information. She knelt to his left side while Weiss laid to his right.

His eyes widened and he frantically asked, "Did I miss the sorting of teams?! Who am I with?! Who are you guys wi—" The alarmed blonde was silenced by her finger over his lips.

"Don't sweat it Jauney, Oz postponed the whole ceremony until you were able to attend. We've just been rooming with our partners for the time being." These words pacified him and he stared at Yang's finger that remained on his lips.

The blonde beauty poked his nose lightly and added, "Come on Weiss, it's getting late, and Jaune still has one last visitor. Plus, I want to sleep in a bed instead of a chair."

"Must we leave so soon? What if he needs us?" Weiss lifted her head and stared into Jaune's eyes with a pout. He replied by petting her head, surprisingly she didn't scold him for it like she usually did.

"He'll be fine, trust me, he's stronger than he says." Yang shot an admiring look at the boy.

Weiss rose and kissed his cheek softly, lingering longer than she did in the past. Then she followed the blonde with a whimper as they left Jaune in silent thought of who the visitor could be. _Maybe Pyrrha, it would make sense for my partner to visit me._

This conjecture flew out of the window as a blur of red zoomed through the empty medical wing and leapt onto Jaune's bed.

"Jaune!" The red reaper clung to him with all of her strength. "Are you ok?!" Her squeaky voice was cute and he gasped for air.

"Rubes… Air…" His plead facilitated in her loosening her grip. She was surprisingly strong for her size. He raised a hand to ruffle her hair in a tease. "Enough about me, I'm tired of me, are you ok?"

A nod started her off, "Yeah, all thanks to you." She said in a strangely tranquil voice. "Whatever you did, it cleansed the poison out of me. I woke up and was laying in my normal bed, completely healthy." Ruby shrugged and her face showed gratitude to her valiant savior.

"I'm just happy you're alright." His sincere smiled beamed and he pulled her shoulder closer to him. "If you would have gotten seriously injured or worse…" The previous smile was whisked away by seriousness, "I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

"Well I'm fine, trust me Jaune!" Her calming smile did well at reassuring the worried boy.

"How did the stinger break your Aura?"

She knelt and looked disappointed, "I took a couple hard hits from the Death Stalker, then I used up almost all my energy climbing the cliff... By the time it attacked, I was already vulnerable for it." The girl's face seemed to regain some of its happiness, "But I promise to not get in another situation and force you to sacrifice your life for me ever again in my whole entire life!" Her words were jumbled and spoken without any pauses.

"Good," he said after finally soaking in what she said, then looked up to the clock, it was getting late, "You should head back to your dorm, or else your sister will kill me." He looked actually afraid of that possibility.

The redhead groaned in irritation, "But why can't we have a sleepover!?" Her cute pout was almost enough to convince him, but he remained strong.

"Ruby…" He used his best stern voice and tousled her hair again. "Please?"

She nodded and conceded, he was not going to permit her stay the night with him.

With a light peck on his cheek, the young girl was on her way.

A nurse that looked the age of Glynda came into view, her eyes were aqua and she had curled black hair that reached midway down her back. "Your friends care a lot about you. The blonde and white haired girls refused to leave your side. The only reason they were excused from class is due to their effect on you..." She paused and seemed greatly interested, "It seems that those two being in such a close proximity with you boosted the regeneration of your Aura." The nurse seemed confused by the anomaly, but Jaune not as much. He still had other matters on his mind, it warmed his heart hearing how much his friends cared for him.

"The other four were here after classes until it was time for bed, when they left, the blonde slept in the chair, and the girl with winter hair insisted that she slept by your side."

An affectionate smile played on his face, then it dawned on him. _Wait… Blonde and white, that makes three including me. The other four, that makes seven. Who was the eighth member with them during Initiation? And why hadn't he or she come with the rest?_

The nurse interrupted his thoughts, "Your Aura levels have been rising from the critical state you were in. That Grimm did a number on you, thankfully you're strong. I advise you to not try anything reckless like this again, and to rest for the next couple of days. You are permitted to go to classes but no combat practice!" She had a hardened and stern look that showed him she was serious.

He nodded in reply.

"Tomorrow you are free to go, now get some rest." She began to leave the added, "Oh, and try to stay close to people you have a positive emotional connection with, like Blondie and the Schnee. Doing that might help the recovery." Another nod from him sufficed as a response.

 _Well Jaune, I'd say this was overall a good day._ He smiled proudly to himself and then the overpowering drowsiness came over him. _Umm… Two weeks actually._ He mentally corrected.

* * *

Jaune had just exited the medical wing early in the morning and was headed back to his room where his partner was at. _It would help if I asked where it was…_ He thought as he wandered the halls aimlessly.

When he turned a corner he collided with someone and they both fell on their backs clumsily. He recomposed himself quickly and offered a hand to the girl. She accepted it and spoke in a wonderful accent, "I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going."

Their eyes met and both widened in shock at the realization. Her glimmering violet orbs made his mind clouded, just like the ones in his dream. She resembled the exact same blonde girl from the nightmare. He held his head and groaned.

She immediately ceased her effects on him. "I must go now." Her unease was apparent as she sped off.

"Wait!" The boy yelled as he tried to tail after the mysterious student. He once again stumbled into someone and fell over.

"Jaune!" He recognized the exuberant voice, it was Nora.

"Are you feeling better?" Ren asked in his composed tone.

Jaune stood up and scratched the back of his head, attempting to decipher what all just occurred. "Yeah I'm fine. Just have to take it easy for a while."

"Oh! You're probably looking for your room! Come on!" The energetic orange haired girl yanked him along, leading him to a room at the end of a hall on the left side. Before Jaune could thank her, the two partners had disappeared. _Why are they awake this early?_

"Well… That was a thing." He huffed a great breath and opened the door that seemingly belonged to his duo. All thoughts of the violet eyed girl were pushed to the back of his mind.

The room darkened from a lack of light. It looked to be simple, four beds, four desks to work at, and short dressers for their clothing, no decorations were shown. _These are probably meant for teams once they are organized._

His bed in the temporary room was to the far left, he could tell because Crocea Mors laid on it, gleaming slightly despite the dark of the room. He made his way over to the dresser beside his bed and was surprised to see that his spare outfits were already neatly folded inside.

A creak came from behind him in the room. He turned to investigate and made out the form of Pyrrha sitting in the bed next to his, her back leaning against the headboard. _Had she been there the whole time?_

"Pyrrha?" The taken aback boy walked over to her and sat against the headboard beside the distressed girl. His warm body made the slightest bit of contact with hers, his arm resting next to hers, sending lovely tingles down her spine. "Are you ok?"

The spartan was already dressed in her daily attire, staring at her knees as she hugged them to her chest. "I've almost lost you twice already..." A frown tugged at her lips, she was disappointed in herself for not assisting him earlier.

"I might not be good at fighting, but I excel at avoiding death!" His joke caused the redhead to giggle softly, she pulled up a hand to stiffle it. _Why does he think little of himself? He is obviously an exceptional fighter._

Jaune tilted his head at her and smiled at her warmly, the way she laughed like that was cute, _I could get used to that._

"Just promise me that next time you try to play hero, you let me know. That way I can devise a safer plan." He nodded in agreement.

"Come on, I'll show you around." The spartan took his hand with an grin and began to lead him along. She was eager to finally spend some time with her partner.

* * *

"And this is my favorite spot." Pyrrha stated as she looked around, taking in the scene. They were at a different portion of the academy's cliffs. This one had trees near it, providing a cool shade from the hot sun. There were flowers hugging the edge and birds fluttering between nests. In the center of this flower patch was a small pond, this served as a home for minor fish. Jaune could tell why she enjoyed this place.

"How'd you find this place?" He began to walk to the flowers.

"Just wandering around, I was rather lonely without my partner, so I had time to explore." She looked at the ground, still not over the entire incident. _How could he risk so much for someone else?_

The boy plucked a deep red rose and admired its beauty. He concealed it behind his back, out of her view, and walked slowly to the redhead. A scheming smile told her that something was going on.

"Jaune?" Her voice was nervous due to her suspicions.

The knight extended his arm out, presenting the flower to her. His smile had turned humble and appreciative, "I truly am sorry, accept this as a token of my gratitude, dear Pyrrha." After the words his signature goofy smile appeared and he was blushing a hue similar to the rose's.

The beautiful girl found his clumsy and shy nature cute. She accepted the flower and reddened at the blonde's kind gesture. "Thank you Jaune." She had no clue how to react, never before had a boy treated her this way.

"No problem partner," He tilted his head and admired her, he was extremely lucky to have her as a partner.

"Teams will be selected soon. It would be wise to not be late for that." Pyrrha flashed a smile up at him that he returned immediately.

"Ok, but you're leading the way. I have no clue where the auditorium is!"

* * *

The four students approached the stage as the headmaster called out, "Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie." They lined up on the stage and Ozpin continued, "The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you shall work together as Team JNPR. Led by… Jaune Arc!"

The last words left the blonde boy utterly astounded. "Huh? L-led by?" He stammered.

"Congratulations, young man."

Pyrrha delivered a congratulatory punch to his shoulder that knocked him over. She immediately helped him up and apologized as the crowd laughed.

The white haired headmaster proceeded to the last team, "And finally: Blake Belladonna…" The rest of his words were a blur to Jaune as his heart skipped a beat. He stared at the raven-haired girl before him. She had grown into a beautiful young woman and wore her exact outfit from the past, same bow and all. Her blank stare was locked on the knight.

The blonde boy approach her slowly on stage, he was still in shock from the unexpected reunion with his first friend. "B-Blake?" Weiss recognized the girl as soon as Jaune had, yet she held her place silently.

Her expression remained cool, like she wasn't fazed at all. "What do you want?" She sounded unexcited to be with him again.

Jaune felt his heart begin to crack and he could hear his blood rushing in his ears. "D-do you remember me?" His voice trembled and all attention was focused on the two.

"Yes. And I wish I didn't." Her voice was ice cold. She had isolated herself from all people, refusing to get attached or to trust anyone since the incident. Commitment only meant pain in the end and she never wanted to have a repeat of her past.

The room was entirely silent, even Ozpin narrowed his eyes at the two, curious of what had happened between the teens.

"But Bla— "

"I don't care about you anymore Jaune, the past is the past." His pain was unbearable, tears welled in his eyes but he refused to let them flow. She clenched her fists and ended with an outburst of pent-up anger that she could repress no longer, "Grow up, stop living in stupid fantasies!" She left the stage in a brisk walk, leaving behind a greatly confused and awestruck audience. Such a joyful moment had turned dark rather quickly.

The knight closed his eyes and wished that he had never survived through Initiation.

"Jaune?" His partner's innocent and sympathetic voice rang out from behind him. Her hand rested on his shoulder to show him she would support him.

Releasing anger on Jaune like that was something nobody should ever do, it was completely wretched considering the loyalty and compassion he showed to others.

Jaune felt it once more. The emptiness and sadness returned to him, the same feeling from when his father was murdered and Blake left him. He began to swiftly walk from the scene, then broke out into a sprint, causing the four girls who cared most about him to call out for him. He didn't care if he got in trouble, his only desire was to get away.

* * *

 **Well that was one way to have Initiation. Let me know how you guys felt about that chapter in a review, or ask me any questions you have. Or just tell me what you like/dislike if you feel like it! :D I thank you all for your favorites, follows and reviews, they push me to keep on writing the story.**

 **I must hand some credit to JMK2 for giving me suggestions and ideas, I'm incredibly thankful for all the help and motivation he's given me.**

 **Chapter 4 on the way.**


	4. Revelation

**Thank you everyone for reading and keeping up with my story to this point. I'm going to keep this intro short. (I do not own RWBY)**

 **Okay. Time for another chapter.**

* * *

 _-Five years ago, a week after Blake's disappearance-_

The displeasing jingle of the store bell rang, signaling that a customer had just left satisfied. "Sorry girl, that's not enough money," the short and plump shop owner spoke with a slight edge of disapproval.

"It was enough money for the last customer." The young black-haired girl narrowed her eyes at him, the customer before her bought the same exact dish that she planned to buy. But that didn't matter to the shopkeeper.

Her stomach grumbled in depravation. It had been days since she'd eaten. Normally, she would have just stuck to the woods, hunting for her own meals. But these parts were full of wandering Grimm, who either scared the wildlife away, or devoured them themselves. So now she was pushed to resort to this lousy man's service, and rely on the chance that he would sell to her.

He returned a glare and retorted gruffly, "I'm afraid I can't help you, or any of your _kind…"_ The man was clearly putting emphasis on the word "kind", referring to the Faunus race. She retrieved her Lien cards and refused to hold this conversation any longer. Whatever she said was not going to persuade him.

Blake turned around and furrowed her eyebrows sadly as she left the small shop, located on the outskirts of town. She thought since this store was not as busy as most and it was smaller, that it would be safer from the racism directed to her kind. Sadly, she was wrong. It was as if nobody valued her except for… _No. Don't think about him._

She took her time touring the dark streets of the desolate village. There was nothing better for the girl to do. After leaving her previous home, she travelled to a neighboring town in order to escape her problems. Whenever times grew tough she knew the only way to survive was to run, ditching the past, in order to guarantee her future.

The new home of the Faunus girl consisted of a tucked away hiding place in an alley. Her "bed" was simply a torn piece of cloth that did nothing to protect her from the cold. Over her bed was a tattered tarp strewn from the opposite sides of the alley. It barely served its purpose of providing a barrier from rain, or a shade from the sun on a hot day. Before settling there, she was careful enough to scope out the place, making sure that no one else came near.

She laid down to wrap herself in the insufficient blanket and shut her eyes tight. _How did I lose my bow? It concealed my identity from the cruel and careless people who only want my kind gone…_ Her thoughts led her back to the blonde haired boy. _Jaune… How could I just leave him like that?_ A single tear formed but she rubbed it away and restrained herself from having any more remorse over her departure. _Grow up, you're all that you have now._ She attempted to withhold her shivers. _Tomorrow, I'm finding a new home. And bow._

* * *

 _-A year later, four from the present time-_

Blake eyed a small boy curiously as he peered hungrily into a shop window. He was an adorable lion Faunus with a tail and floppy golden ears placed on his head, which had scruffy blonde hair. His clothes looked ragged and filthy. The place's windows were decorated with pictures of the diverse sweets currently on sale, portraying it as a bakery. She snuck up behind the boy and asked in a kind voice, "Are you hungry?"

He jumped in shock and turned to face the girl. This boy couldn't be any older than ten years old. He nodded eagerly and wondered why this girl was talking to him.

The newer black bow tied on her head cloaked her Faunus features and allowed her to be treated for who she was, not what she was.

"Come on then," a warm smile pulled at her lips and she offered a hand to the boy. As he took it she led him inside.

The air of the shop was rich and delightful, as soon as it reached the boy's nostrils his grin grew wider. "You can pick anything you'd like."

He was nearly overwhelmed by the immense variety of pastries, there were too many options for him process. He sped throughout the shop, inspecting every single type of dessert carefully. Blake felt compelled to play along and follow the boy as he rushed around. It proved to be difficult for her simply because of his unpredictable routes.

The Faunus settled on a gigantic fluffy and chocolatey doughnut that was plastered in frosting and sprinkles, the sheer size of it made his head look tiny in comparison. His eyes were wide and glossed over, he pressed his head against the glass barrier that separated him and the glorious delicacy. He began to jump and ecstatically point at in, signaling to the girl that he made up his mind.

She laughed softly at the excitable boy and the cashier came over. The man looked at the Faunus boy with critical eyes, "Sorry boy. No can do." The little lion was heartbroken.

 _How can people discriminate against children this young?_ "And why is that, _sir_?" A slight touch of irritation was evident in her words.

"Not gonna sell to a Faunus. Plain and simple." He crossed his arms.

"Well, you're selling it to me. So I would appreciate it if you'd let me purchase my food, unless you'd prefer to lose a paying customer." She was considerably intimidating for only being thirteen.

The sloppy looking and rather rude man grumbled a few incoherent words. Blake safely assumed that it was another racist remark. She tossed a couple Lien that she earned from helping Faunus on the counter, and then snatched the doughnut from the man to hand it to the boy. As they exited the store she shot one last disgusted glare at the man behind the counter.

"Thank you, ma'am!" By the time they stood outside, the little Faunus boy's face was already smeared with chocolate crumbs and sprinkles.

She scratched gently behind his lion ears, "No need to thank me," with a soft smile she added, "Now go on!"

He nodded and was off.

 _There has to be something I can do about this. Not for my personal benefit, but for the young ones, who are more vulnerable than I am._

* * *

 _-Two years later, two from the present-_

 _Cold… So… cold…_ Blake leaned up against a tree shivering violently, wrapped in a thick black cloak. The sharp, freezing wind bit at her cheeks, burning them red. She pulled the cloak over her head to shield from the cold and snow.

While on her immense journey a blizzard had struck, she shouldn't have been surprised. She was aware of how close winter was, but her recent lack of rest and food lessened her judgement, distracting her from nature's signs. The girl couldn't remember the last time she had eaten, and there was no telling if she would ever again. _This storm is never going to end…_

She closed her eyes. Her slightly blued lips began to tremble from the cold. Her toes were numb, feeling like they would fall off at any moment. Her fingers were fairing better, but were not far from being completely numb.

A ferocious growl came from close behind her, she cursed her carelessness. _I shouldn't have been so foolish and ignorant. I let my guard down and my mood must have attracted these beasts._

Blake dropped the cloak and wielded her blackened weapons, shifting them into sword from. She turned toward the enemies, two Ursa Minors, her fingers began to shake uncontrollably, not from fear, but from the cold.

She used her Semblance to blink toward the first, easily slicing through the flesh to decapitate it. She had not been slacking as the years passed. The ninja made sure to maintain a fit body, and sharp senses that rarely failed. Her skills improved exponentially, mostly to protect herself from the common unpleasant brutes and the occasional racist.

The second Ursa charged at her from behind, thanks to her extra pair of ears, her acute hearing was able to pick up the pounding of its heavy paws. With her Semblance again she blinked backwards into the air, flexibly performed a flip, then slashed into the Grimm's spine with both blades. It dropped, dead and defeated.

 _That wasn't too challenging._ She felt a speck of pride over the small victory.

The corpses of the monsters disintegrated, dissipating into a gloomy shroud of darkness.

In the heat of the moment her body was able to expel some of the cold and replace it with heat. She grabbed her black cloak and made progress on her journey, refusing to take the risk of stopping again. When the storm settled and the snow cleared, her destination was set in sight.

 _Vale._

* * *

 _-Two years late, two months from the present-_

The sounds of shouts and a struggle reached Blake's ears as she walked the lonely streets of nighttime Vale. "Hey!" She had been on her way back to her makeshift home when she heard them. They came from a shady looking warehouse. The shattered windows were roughly boarded but a faint light was visible from the interior of the building.

The Faunus girl approached one of the broken windows and glanced inside through a small slit. Two men with silver Grimm masks and hoods were circling around a woman. The woman was strapped to a chair in the middle of the dimly lit room. The seat appeared to be the only intact piece of furniture in the room, the rest seemed to be broken down into scraps of wood.

Blake narrowed her eyes when she spotted the White Fang emblem on the backs of their vests. With the image came a flood of memories. Memories which she had persistently tried to rid herself of. Her childhood, criminals, Adam… _Jaune… Why can't I forget that idiot?! All he caused was trouble!_

She clenched her fists in frustration at herself, contemplating on if she should play this discreetly as usual, or let her temper get the best of her and charge in. The girl decided it would be safer to handle this in her usual fashion.

Blake inspected the perimeter of the rundown building in an attempt to find an entrance instead of the front door. There were none.

On the rear of it she discovered a ladder, which led to the rooftop of the warehouse. After ascending to the top, she found a small window conveniently located above one of the goons, it was shattered already, so she would not have to worry about giving herself away too early. The fall was not too high, she could easily get the drop on one of them (literally), then use her Semblance to close the distance to her next enemy before finishing him. This plan offered the highest possibility of keeping the woman alive.

She descended through the skylight onto the first criminal's back, the force of the drop slammed him into the ground, leaving him unconscious. The other was quicker on his feet than she expected. Before she could use her Semblance, he was upon her, slashing rapidly with a blood red sword. Every blow he dealt, she blocked, but she was losing ground every hit. Unfortunately for the White Fang member, her expertise was stealth, being gifted in the art of disappearing in a mere moment.

She purposefully missed a block, allowing him to slash through her neck like it was made of nothing. Only a second was given to the man for a celebration until he realized that he had not won, the kill was an illusion. There was no time for him to react before a forceful hit was landed on the back of his head, knocking him out like his partner.

She smirked in triumph as she tied the criminals and released the woman. Blake picked one of their pockets and used one of their Scrolls to call the police. She simply escorted the woman out of the building through the front door.

The woman spoke after exiting, "Thank you so much, whoever you are."

"Why were you there?" The Faunus girl wasted no time in her interrogation, she crossed her arms in suspicion, looking directly into the woman's eyes.

"I was only walking home. Then the two approached me and demanded money, for no reason at all. When I refused, they threatened me. They said they would kill my family…" The woman looked traumatized, and she had a valid reason to be. She turned her back to her savior.

Blake nodded and spoke confidently, "They will not trouble you again. Trust me, I won't allow them."

The woman was relieved, "Thank you so much! But who are you?"

Her response was a gust of wind. Upon observing her surroundings, there were no other beings in sight. She began to believe that all of it had been some sort of hallucination, but that would not explain her kidnapping by the White Fang.

Blake was perched on a rooftop nearby, looking down at her like a guardian angel. _So… The humans are racist toward Faunus, the White Fang retaliates with random acts of violence… There's nowhere safe from the corruption, discrimination, and injustices that occur. There has to be something I can do…_

As she turned around, the answer to her predicament became clear, in the form of a great tower, a shining beacon that lit the darkness. _Is this a sign to become a Huntress?_ She asked herself and at first was not pleased by the idea. _Well if I have to start somewhere, I guess it will be Beacon Academy._

A dreadful voice killed the moment of revelation she was experiencing.

"Oh Blake, I never expected you to turn so soft," the sly man's voice sent chills down her spine.

She wished none of this was real, just a sick nightmare that she would soon awaken from. As she turned around she admitted that this was real.

He had not changed at all from their last encounter. Same red hair, same mask, same loathing face that showed his despise for this world. His red sword was currently unsheathed, held by his side.

Adam smirked at her and chuckled, she hated every bit of it. "What's the matter, darling?" His mocked concern irritated her. " _Cat_ got your tongue?"

"How did you find me?" Her attempt at sounding strong was unsuccessful. He could see right through her, sensing her fear.

"Do you not recall? I was the one who raised you, I know how you think, and where you will go. I can easily predict your next move… To run." The man approached her, but for every step he took forward, she took two backwards. "Is that all you know how to do, Blake? Run? I thought I taught you better than that." He looked at his sword for a brief moment, "Though I am glad to see you're not with that foolish knight anymore. I wrongly underestimated him, I should have been more aware of his potential considering his family's history."

She wondered what he meant by the last part, but the insults thrown at her hit a soft spot. Making her feel like she was nothing at all because of her tendency to flee when times were difficult. And the worst part: she was starting to believe him. He had instilled a doubt in her, causing her uncertainty of herself to bloom. _Can I really change anything?_

"Do you feel like a hero? For _saving_ her?" His wicked grin spread wider.

She glanced over the edge to look down at the woman. She immediately clasped her hands over her mouth in utter horror. Her entire body shook in terror. The murderer, now right by her, whispered into her ear, "I decided to replicate the scene with Jaune's father, for old time's sake. What do you think of it?"

With every sadistic word uttered by him, she realized how much of a psychopath he had become. She was forced to break her stare at the scene when he grabbed her arms to spin her, so that she faced him. His warm breath floated down to her face, making her shiver. The level of uncomfortableness she was feeling continued to rise tremendously.

"Remember our plan, my love? The revolution? Do you not care for our kind?"

She stuttered, "I-I care for the Faunus, b-but this is not the right way…"

"What have you become? Has your love for me died out?" His tone was severe and he tightened his grip on her arms, crushing them.

She retained a small whimper, then narrowed her teary eyes, "I never loved you, Adam. You're a monster..."

He audibly growled, but before his abuse could proceed, she was out of his hands. Her Semblance assisted her in escaping his grasp. She dashed across the rooftops to avoid being captured and tortured any longer. The criminal was scared off by the nearing police siren, he could easily dispatch them, but now was not the time. _Eventually… I will have my love…_

* * *

 _-Present Day-_

"Grow up, stop living in stupid fantasies!" She felt cold as ice, her heart as if made of stone. Before anyone was able to scold her for the outburst she left the scene, making her way to the new team rooms. Distinguishing her room from the rest was made simple by the labels on their doors. Apparently she was now part of Team RWBY. Yang and Ruby seemed nice. Possibly a bit too hyper for her liking, but nonetheless nice. On the other hand, Weiss was rich, irritable, and a Schnee. They were not going to get along well.

Once inside the room, she saw that their luggage was already delivered. She would have questioned it further if her mind was not already buzzing. She leaned her hands on the windowsill and closed her eyes. _Was it necessary to be so cruel? He was so nice when we were younger…_

She disciplined herself, "Get it together Blake! You have to do this." _If you never met him, then you would never have had problems like these._

The door creaked when it opened, "Blake?" She recognized her partner's voice, "What was that all about?" Her tone was a mixture of confusion and concern, with an edge of anger underneath.

"It doesn't have anything to deal with you, so please stop worrying about it," her words trembled when spoken, a tear rolled down her cheek. _Stop it!_ She wiped it away quickly, only to have it be replaced by another. All she wanted was to run and forget about these people and this ridiculous school.

"Jaune's a great guy, what could he possibly have done to deserve that?"

Blake's miserable mood only worsened, she regretted her outburst and felt guilty for crushing the boy's spirits. "Nothing…" She finally turned to confront the blonde.

Yang felt her burning rage smolder inside of her, her eyes reddened, but her hair had not yet burst into flames, "Then why did you hurt him!?" She clenched her fists and her roar caused the raven-haired girl to shrink back in her place. Jaune was the nicest person she had ever met, plus he saved her sister, she felt the need to defend him.

"I'm sorry…" Blake apologized meekly. She didn't have the will to argue, this was painful for her, just like it was for Jaune.

Yang's eyes reverted to their normal beautiful lilac color. She sat on the bed to the right of the room and patted a spot for Blake to sit. Calmly she asked, "Could you at least explain?" Ruby and Weiss could be heard outside as they neared the room, arguing, to no one's surprise.

The shy girl sat next to her partner while letting out a soft sigh, then began her tale, "It all started on a lonely, winding road, in the middle of nowhere… "

She was interrupted when the door opened to reveal Weiss and her partner. The first thing she did was narrow her eyes furiously and pointed a finger at Blake. "You! How dare you do that to Jaune?!" The heiress stomped over to her, shaking from the anger she was containing. "What do you have to say for yourself?!"

"I'm really sorry, I can explain," she spoke quietly and aimed her gaze at the floor.

The heiress sat on the bed opposite from Yang and Blake, Ruby took a seat by her. The redhead remained silent, waiting to hear the story. Weiss crossed her arms with an unpleased frown, waiting impatiently.

"Jaune and I go further back than the incident on the train. Actually, I was his first friend," Weiss turned away jealously after hearing this. "On the day we met I had to save him from a pack of Grimm, and immediately after that, he saved me from the same monsters." Her lips barely rose in a reminiscent smile. " Later on, when I was being bullied, he came to save me. There was no way he could beat them, but that stupidly sweet knight didn't care. When he spots someone in danger there's nothing that can sway him from stepping in."

The three listeners nodded to show their silent agreement. They were already familiar with this careless, yet heroic side of the knight. "We stuck together through thick and thin. Every moment we spent apart from each other I worried for him. Then..." Her mood darkened when she thought of Adam. "My insane mentor returned." She glossed over the details about who he truly was. It was asking much of Blake to open up this way, and she was fine with revealing some of her past, but she would not discuss the White Fang. "He was the one who coordinated our first mission. He was the savage who almost killed you..." Her apologetic gaze locked with Weiss's. The heiress broke eye contact and stared at the floor blankly.

"After Jaune lost his father I ran. I just couldn't..." Blake trailed off and was too choked up to continue. She shut her eyes and worked to call herself down. Yang placed a hand on her shoulder to console her.

A couple of minutes passed in silence before she was able to recover.

"I traveled aimlessly. One place to another. Nobody offered help, I was on my own again. No caring boy to keep me company." Ruby looked at her sympathetically, saddened by the girl's tale. "I needed a new life and wanted to help people, so I decided to become a Huntress." The partial lie hid her experiences as a Faunus and the White Fang.

Blake took a deep breath. Relieved not only to be done, but to also take some of the weight off of her shoulders. The other girls waited for her to go on, but no more words came from her.

Ruby was the first to pipe up softly, "He hasn't changed..." The raven-haired girl looked at the red reaper with curiosity. "He's still that same goofy heroic knight. I could have died if he hadn't rescued me." The redhead looked down at her hands and Blake thought back to Initiation.

"All of those years without you, we stuck together." Weiss spoke up, causing Blake to shift her gaze to her. "I'm still not certain if it was me pushing him along or the other way around. Even though we were unable to spend all of our time together in person, we stayed in contact." Weiss's pale cheeks turned pink, to everyone's surprise, as she remembered the times he held her.

Blake turned to Yang when she felt a gentle squeeze on her shoulder. "I'm not too close to my fellow blonde, but I don't have to know everything about him to tell that he's an amazing guy. He's a hero in my eyes, not because of something he did for me, but because of what he did to save Ruby's life."

Ruby rushed over to her sister and tackled her onto the bed in a hug. "Aww I love you too, sis!" Yang smiled at her words and ruffled the little girl's hair.

She sat up and looked at her partner with an encouraging smile, "Go talk to him, Blakey. He'll understand." Yang gave her a wink and then moved on to peeling Ruby off of her.

Blake looked back to Weiss who only nodded in approval. She gave a sigh and stood up, mentally preparing herself.

* * *

- _During Team RWBY's meeting-_

The knight stood at the edge of Beacon's cliff, the bird's chirping from earlier now asleep for the night, the diverse flowers all shaded darkly, the small pond's veil of shadow making the fish invisible in the black of night. The pale moonlight shined down on Jaune, not offering its usual comforting sensation to him. He felt as if someone simply ripped his heart and dreams out and stomped them into the dirt. That someone being his first friend.

He crooked his neck to spot his reflection in the pool, lit by the moon's rays. He felt drained of energy, which was strange considering the amount of rest he had over the two weeks.

A tear rolled down his cheek and tumbled into the water, causing a ripple that scattered his form in the water.

"Maybe she's right dad. I was an idiot for thinking I could save everyone, there's no way that I could _ever_ possibly do that," his broken-hearted voice spoke to no one, hoping wherever his father was that he could hear him, "I couldn't save you…" His words were choked up and he clenched his eyes shut, "This isn't my destiny." The boy's shoulders slumped in self-pity and defeat.

He picked up voices coming from behind him, one owned an accent like the violet eyed girl, "Come on, I saw him go this way."

Two girls burst through the dense growth of trees, he had no reaction to their entrance.

"This the guy?" This second voice was far different from the first, it was deeper and feminine. She spoke in a cool tone, possibly in an effort to act as if she didn't care, yet she did. Of course, Jaune paid no attention to any of those deeper details.

The other girl nodded after inspecting the boy. She could clearly see him in the dark due to her Faunus abilities.

"Hey, Jaune? Right?" Asked the one who lacked an accent.

He turned to face them.

"Are you ok?" The girl with an accent sounded sweet and gentle, in a way it reminded him of how Pyrrha spoke to him.

"I don't think so… I'm not sure what's happening to me," he sounded worried as he opened his eyes to look at his hands.

The two of them approached him and the accented one spoke, "You should take a seat then."

He didn't need to be told twice. He trudged over to a tree and plummeted to the ground, leaning up against a tree, and looked up at the two girls. One wore a short and brown, long-sleeved jacket with a black undershirt. A sort of case hung from her hip and surprisingly, she had two long bunny ears atop her head. He could not precisely determine her hair or eye color due to the darkness.

The other girl, in Jaune's opinion, seemed extremely fashionable for some reason. She wore a mocha shirt with a dark brown corset. Her belt was surrounded by lined bullets; the buckle was a shiny gold crosshair. Her pants were dark brown and she wore tall high-heeled leather boots with buckles. She appeared to wear some kind of hat and… _Wait, sunglasses? At night?_

Jaune was completely guessing on the colors, he was not going to worry greatly over the matter.

"Do you wanna go to the nurse?" Asked the smooth one.

He groaned in objection, "I'd rather not, I was just in there for weeks."

"Oh, are you the reason the ceremony was postponed for the first years?" The Faunus asked quietly.

"Yeah…" He wasn't particular thrilled from being the reason it was delayed. "Why are you guys here? Are you first years too?"

"I'm Coco, that's Velvet," the fashionable one stated and pointed to her friend, "Were second year students. Oz sent us to find you because we are more 'responsible' than other first years." She chuckled to herself as she air quoted the word "responsible".

"We should really get you back to your new team's dorm," Velvet added while Coco assisted him in standing.

The two upperclassmen led him through the giant school, thankfully they were more familiar with the layout of the place. The halls were all empty. _I guess everyone has turned in for the night._

The three reached Jaune's hallway and slowly neared his team's room. He looked at the team who owned the room across from his and groaned nervously. It belonged to Team RWBY, which consisted of Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang. _Blake…_

Hushed voices came from that room, while yells and howls came from his own.

"Thanks for the help guys," Jaune placed his hand on the knob and smiled at the older students.

"No problem, maybe we'll see you around," Coco replied and Velvet only waved timidly as they walked off.

He took a deep breath and wished that his team would be a bit quieter, he still felt horrible in every way possible.

When he opened the door, he was greeted by the sight of Nora bouncing on a bed, singing in a high pitched voice, while slapping Ren with pillows. Jaune was surprised that the boy just accepted the beating. He wasn't aware of the history the two best friends had together.

Pyrrha was sitting on her bed wearing a nightgown that ended slightly above her knees, the color of it matched her hair. She looked concerned until he entered the room. She tried her very best to subdue her worried tone but failed, "Jaune, are you ok?"

Nora dropped her pillow and Ren sat up. Both of them wondered silently what he would do so they listened attentively.

"Yeah its nothing," he flashed a poor convincing smile to them, which only Nora could not see through. "Don't let me stop your fun."

"Yes! Our leader is fun Ren!" Nora immediately resumed punishing the innocent boy with the pillow, distracting him from Jaune.

The knight slowly walked over to his bed, located between the wall and Pyrrha's. He began to remove his armor and sweatshirt, then peeled his undershirt off lastly. It didn't cross his mind that there were girls in the room too. Pyrrha's eyes flicked across his features, he was much more fit than she originally thought. She had to admit, she was more than slightly impressed. Her blush was flourishing across her cheeks, then halted and faded when two irregularities were brought to her attention.

Her beautiful eyes widened when she discovered two glowing white marks. One a small slice on his midsection, the other appeared to be from his right shoulder being pierced. They only illuminated for a brief moment, looking like dimmed beacons of light, before fading back into his normal smooth skin. He disappeared into the bathroom for a shower and returned shortly, dressed in a clean white shirt and pair of sweatpants.

 _Not in the onesie mood,_ he thought to himself. The scene that greeted him differed completely from the previous.

Nora was surprisingly asleep, he thought it was impossible bubbly girl to rest. Her booming snores could be heard from all the way across the room. The bed to her right held a softly sleeping Ren, any day spent with Nora was long and terribly exhausting.

Jaune sat on his bed facing toward Pyrrha, who remained in her same place. Her sympathetic green eyes met his saddened blue ones. "You should get some sleep, I bet you've had a long day." He gave her a half-hearted smile.

"I bet yours was longer," She frowned and added, "How do you feel?" _He's probably hurt…_

"Hurt, broken, drained, lonely," he dropped his eyes to his hands and stared blankly. "For some reason, after that whole…" He paused to determine the correct word, but quickly gave up and continued, "Thing, my Aura levels have been strange and unstable."

"Jaune, you're never alone. You have a team now." She flashed a soothing smile at him and replied to his latter statement, "You should sleep, maybe that will help you recover." She shoved the thoughts of his scars to the back of her mind and laid in bed, covering herself snuggly in blankets.

Jaune laid on his bed for hours. He knew that sleep wouldn't improve his state, the problem was more complicated than that. He was having difficulties sleeping, most likely because of his reunion with Blake. The boy turned to his left side to look at his partner who was sound asleep. She looked so gentle and at peace, it brought a warm smile to his face.

 _I just need some alone time, to figure some of this stuff out._

He slipped out of bed and carefully snuck toward the door, one wrong step could cause him to trip, then that would result in his team waking up. Once he reached his door he let out a sigh of relief. He left the room, closed the door silently, and began his walk down the hall.

Eventually his feet led him to a staircase which he climbed upward. He climbed to the highest level possible and found himself on top of the dorm building. The drafty breeze blew through his hair as he walked to sit by the edge. He was sure to not get too close, or else he might risk the chance of getting sick.

The night began to quiet down, leaving his surroundings in a strange silence. Despite the lack of noise, his ears were unable to pick up the mute patters of a certain ninja.

She whispered to him, "Come on, it isn't too scary. Sit with me." The offer's purpose was to set him at ease, but it backfired.

The girl took Jaune completely by surprise, at her first word he leapt into the air scared. He turned, not expecting to see his old friend here, giving him a hopeful smile. He allowed her to take his hand and guide him to the edge. Even though he was reluctant to, he sat on the edge and hung his feet off as she had done.

Jaune could not urge himself to look at her, it only worsened the wounds in his heart. But he also refused to look down to the ground, so he looked at his hands.

"Look," She began, "I'm so sorry for everything that happened, you didn't deserve any of that." Her tone was apologetic, not uncaring like it used to be when they were younger.

His deep blue eyes welled with tears, he turned his head away in order to hide his emotions.

"Jaune," her tone was weak and hurt, "I need you to look at me, so that I know you're listening. Please…" The last word cracked in desperation.

He turned to face her with tears ready to spring from his eyes, as he locked onto her amber orbs, the first drop flowed.

Blake wiped the tear away softly," I missed you, Jaune." The words were barely audible but full of truth. "The whole time I was gone, I tried to forget all my memories of you, I tried to isolate myself from everyone so I would never be hurt in that way again. I didn't understand why it was impossible to forget you… But now I do, its bec—"

Jaune interrupted his friend to embrace her, holding her tightly and savoring the warmth that radiated from her. She buried her face in his neck, refusing to cry. She loved feeling his body, this was the closest she's been to him in ages. And it was the perfect moment to her for finally being together again.

"I missed you too Blake."

She pulled back enough in order to speak, "A-aren't you mad? For me leaving?"

"All that matters now is that you're here now." His smile told her that he meant every word.

The girl embraced him even tighter than before. _How can he be so forgiving?_

"How'd you even know I was up here?"

"I didn't, I was just going for a stroll," her lie was not fooling the boy.

"I'm more observant than I used to be, but not by much. It doesn't take a genius to see through that lie, and that's good because I'm far from being a genius."

She took a deep breath and pulled away to look at his face. He tilted his head to the side. He had matured into a defined and handsome young man; he wasn't the scrawny boy she used to love. _Love? Did you really feel that way?_ She shook the question out of her head and replied, "I told my team about our past together from my point of view. Ruby and Yang were surprised to know that I was involved in the whole train incident," her eyes narrowed at the boy, "Why did you not tell them of me? You didn't even tell Weiss about how we first became friends." Her gaze softened and she looked hurt from that fact.

"I'm sorry, I just refused to talk about that stuff in detail. It was all too painful to remember," he looked away in shame.

Blake paused for a considerably long moment and finally nodded understandingly. Then continued, "They began to tell of how you've effected their lives already. You and Weiss stuck together for years, motivating each other to keep moving forward. You risked your life to save Ruby's, earning great respect from Yang in the process…"

She looked away from him and shifted her gaze to the school grounds below, "They convinced me to come and attempt to resolve our issues, it wasn't difficult following your loud steps."

Jaune's cheeks were blushing a deep shade of red, he thought that she couldn't see, but her night vision pierced the darkness and illuminated his features. "You're an amazing guy, with a huge heart, Jaune." Her admiring smile began to fade for two reasons. She wanted to confess her strange feelings for him, but she was too afraid. Secondly, she felt guilty for not standing by his side while he was fatally injured from Initiation. "I was too full of my restrained anger to see what you were going through, and what you had to go through in the past."

The knight put a finger to her lips to silence her woeful speech, "Blake, I forgive you." His Aura brightened strongly, providing a brief but brilliant shine. He had failed to notice that during this touching moment his energy was recharging.

"What just happened?"

"I have no clue. Lately my Aura has been all weird when I'm with friends," he scratched the back of his head with an expression of puzzlement. "When you yelled at me and I was upset, it was all unstable. Now that were together and friends again, it seems fine," the boy shrugged and brushed it off.

"You should rest, maybe you just haven't recovered from Initiation yet," her concern for him was clear, but she also tried to be stern.

He was not enthused by the suggestion that everyone seemed to be giving him, "But Bla— "

"Jaune, it's for the best." He still wasn't persuaded by her caring voice, not until her face turned to one of pleading, "Please."

He groaned and broke for her, giving her a goofy smile, "You're lucky I can't deny that face, Blakey."

"Must you call me that?" They stood and she took the hand that he offered to her.

"It's my one request of you, Blakey." His hand was warm and soft, his goofy smile continued to beam.

The two walked silently back to their dorm rooms in the dark of the night. _I guess I can handle the name._ She smiled, content with how the whole scene played out. _I might have missed that stupid smile of his too…_ A pink blush spread across her cheeks while her thoughts about the boy began to spiral.

When they had arrived to their dorms, they separated. Blake was able to drift off easily, but the knight had not been so fortunate. A familiar hazy feeling rolled over him as he laid in bed. _Oh no…_ It was too late; he was unable to stop himself from being swallowed into yet another nightmare.

* * *

" _Oh you missed her, Jaune?" Her sinister chuckle made the hairs on his neck prickle up. "That is just too cute, too bad you'll only lose her again…"_

 _Jaune glared at the amber-eyed figure, "What are you talking about?"_

" _All good things must come to an end, they eventually crumble and wither away, as will the friends that you hold so dearly," her antagonizing was clearly just an attempt to get him to react, but he held his anger down._

" _Why me?" His weak voice managed to sound out._

 _She smiled the same smile that made his blood boil, "We have been watching you, noting your finest moments. You could be a valuable asset to our cause."_

" _I never will be! You could just be afraid of me!" He clenched his fists and she ignored the second part of his statement._

" _What if it meant saving a friend?"_

 _He was silenced and realized he had been placed in a scene from a past dream. Except now the burning classroom was almost completely engulfed in flames._

 _Blake appeared out of nothing, holding a limp and shadowy figure, one of its arms detached and laid beside his friend. A growing puddle of blood seeped into her clothing, covering her stomach from a recent stab wound. Her face was completely pale, yet full of defiance._

" _Why must you hurt me, Blake?" The words were in a low and raspy tone, one that Jaune vividly remembered. They came from a tall shadow, one hand resting on a sheathed sword hanging from his side._

" _You love her, don't you Jaune?" The woman with him teased, "For how long?" While she spoke, he witnessed the figure slice cleanly through Blake's neck, decapitating her._

 _His hands unclenched and all thoughts in his mind ceased. He felt his body heat up, the sound of his blood rushing filled his ears. His heart beats seemed to slow, along with time, "N-no…" His whisper shuddered quietly._

 _Then the wretched scene, including the woman, vanished. Leaving him in this plain of darkness. His Aura glowed blindingly bright, but he knew in this dream realm he was powerless to alter the course of events._

" _Savor what you love, while you still can, Jaune." He expected the dream to end, but an accented girl kept it alive._

 _He turned to greet who spoke, and saw the violet eyes girl. Her frown matched his. "Who are you?! Why are you doing this?!" He was outraged from the losses he was forced to repeatedly watch, every one of them succeeded in beating him down._

 _The girl shrank in her place, tears were ready to flow from her eyes, "I-I'm not the enemy, w-we're less different than you m-may think..." With those words the dream ended._

* * *

Both teams had a moderately eventful morning of classes, so Jaune had almost no time to collect his thoughts after the nightmare. Team RWBY spent it unpacking and decorating their new room. Team JNPR spent theirs sleeping in, one of them suffering from a seemingly inescapable dream. Neither knew of the classes that had been planned for the day, they thought that since last night was the late celebration, they would get the next day off.

Jaune woke up immediately after his dream finished and heard Ruby's piercing shout, it was something about classes. So his first instinct was to quickly rouse the rest of his team from their rest, and hurry to prepare for the day. After all of the action, they made it to their own classes. Only managing to be slightly late.

Jaune was now sitting through Grimm Studies with the whole of Team RWBY. His own team was currently in a different class from his own. The teacher of this class was Professor Port. From what Jaune could gather, he was a blunt and narcissistic teacher, who enjoyed reminiscing on his past triumphs over the creatures of Grimm. This was apparent because for the past half hour he had already told four of these exaggerated tales.

He chose a seat located between Yang and Weiss. Ruby sat to the left of Weiss, and Blake was on the right of Yang. He felt sort of closed in by all of them and was slightly uncomfortable, except he had no time to worry about pretty girls. At the moment he was pondering his most recent dream. It helped him to tune out the boastful professor's stories.

 _Who is that violet-eyed girl? She's a student here because I ran into her the other day, but why does she keep showing up? She has to have something to do with the dreams I've been having, her and that mystery woman. Is the amber-eyed woman even real?_ He frowned and recalled how his friends were targeted through the dreams, all of them except for Ruby…

He snapped out of his thoughts when Weiss stood for some reason and approached the front of class. Apparently she was going to perform a demonstration of killing a Boarbatusk to exhibit her skills as a training Huntress. The one to fill him in on this info was Yang.

She made the fight seem not difficult in the slightest, using her perfectly timed Glyphs to gain advantages against the beast. Her and Ruby were yelling at each other throughout the entire fight, causing Jaune to cover his face in aggravation. _I wish they would just get along with each other…_

After claiming victory and receiving praise from the plump teacher, the heiress stomped out of class immaturely. Ruby followed shortly behind her.

Once the class ended, Jaune left the room with Blake and Yang. On his way out he noticed Ruby speaking to Ozpin. He separated from his friends in pursuit of the heiress, who he found on an outside balcony, not far from the classroom.

The wintery beauty leaned on the railing and stared off into the distance, as if deep in thought. The warm orange sunset beamed down on her, brightening her face with the light rays. Her shoulders were slumped in disappointment with herself. "I just don't understand…"

"Understand what?" Jaune asked neutrally. He was now standing close by her side and set his gaze on the sunset, not staring directly into the sun.

Weiss looked up at him and briefly wondered why he was there, then she was reminded of how much he cared for her feelings. Her tone was full of jealousy, "Why was Ruby made team leader? I'm significantly more qualified than she is, she isn't capable of handling the responsibilities that come with being leader."

"Am I any more capable than her?"

"Y—," she began in protest, but Jaune immediately interjected.

"No, I'm most likely not. We're all only first year students. Plus, she's two years younger, and Ozpin let her into Beacon _and_ made her leader. If anything, that proves she is far more capable than most." He defended Ruby and looked down to meet her eyes, "Please, just give her a chance." His expression was hopeful, and he left the girl to reflect on what he said.

* * *

"Nora?"

"Yes, Ren?"

"We can have pancakes for dinner, but only if you come finish your homework first." Jaune and Pyrrha were unable to hold back a small laugh at the boy's strife.

For the past hour, Nora had been launching paper airplanes from the window, aiming them at other students. Most of them failed to meet their mark. "But Ren, we must protect the kingdom from the pillagers! Or else the king and queen will be killed!" One of her planes hit a student in the chest, causing the girl to throw her arms in an ecstatic cheer, "Direct hit, Sir Ren!"

"Nora, if you fail to complete your homework, then I'll be forced to make one of my smoothies, full of essential nutrients," he said in a more upbeat tone, almost sounding excited.

"I will never drink that wretched poison ever again!" She finally conceded and ran to sit with Ren at her desk after almost an hour of dispute.

Pyrrha was struggling with holding back her amusement, Jaune had just recovered from doubling over due to his laughter. After both of them settled down, Jaune asked, "So does that mean I'm king?"

"I believe so, your majesty," she giggled softly at the title, "But who is the queen?"

He reddened a little and smiled, "Well I guess you would be my queen, Pyrrha."

She attempted to hide her deep red blush from the boy by turning away, but he managed to catch a glance, "My queen, why deny me the honor of seeing your lovely face?" His joke was spoken with a boyish grin.

Pyrrha's face was as red as her hair, _I'm going to get revenge on him for this…_ She decided to play along with him, "For no reason, my king." The spartan turned to look at the knight and his face was equally as red as hers.

The pair of new royals broke out into another bout of uncontrollable laughter, stopping when their teammate spoke.

"Would you two like to accompany us to the cafeteria?"

"We're getting pancakes!" Nora was bouncing slightly while tugging Ren's hand, pulling him closer and closer to the door.

Pyrrha looked to Jaune in interest, waiting to hear his answer before providing hers.

"Nah, I still have some work to do and I already ate."

Pyrrha racked her brain in search of a valid excuse, "And I'm…" _Come on think…_ "Going to help him!" It was clear to the other two what she was doing, Ren raising an eyebrow and Nora beaming knowingly. This whole internal conversation completely flew over Jaune's head.

"Sweet, thanks Pyrrha," Jaune was smiling at his generous partner while heading over to his desk.

Ren nodded to Pyrrha before exiting and Nora hopped along after him. The redhead let loose a breath of relief that gave way to a smile, she was overjoyed to finally have some alone time with her partner.

In minutes the two were finished, mostly because of Pyrrha's vast knowledge. Jaune was not dumb by any means, he just was not on the same level as her. He slammed his book shut and spoke, "Strong, caring, funny, and smart. I picked an amazing partner," he laughed a little and smiled gratefully.

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow, "If I'm not mistaken, I recall pinning you to a tree and coming to help you…" She tapped her chin three times and looked up with a contemplating face.

"I don't have a clue what you're talking about!" His reply was desperate and he scratched the back of his head.

The girl sat on Jaune's bed, her smile had been wiped from her face, replaced by a curious frown. The images of Jaune's scars from the previous night were brought back to mind. Her partner sat by her side and was concerned by her strange mood, "What's wrong? Did I say something?"

She shook her head no, "Where did you get those glowing marks?"

"W-what marks?" His nervousness was poorly masked; this wasn't a topic that he enjoyed discussing.

"Your right shoulder and stomach, those don't appear to be common scars." She paused and hoped that he would explain, "They glowed white."

To start off, he explained the story of his childhood, except this time he involved Blake when he previously had not. He fumbled clumsily with his hands and occasionally fidgeted in his place. "The only times I've harnessed my Semblance, were to save another's life. Even then, I wasn't in complete control of it. My Aura sort of just… Followed its instincts to protect others in need." The knight's voice was hushed and calmer than his norm, "I discovered the scar on my shoulder after saving Ruby, the other was from the incident with Weiss. They randomly glow, sometimes brighter than other times, but usually when I'm fighting for a life. I can tell because those areas heat up more when they grow brighter. I think they have something to do with my Semblance…"

He allowed her to soak up some of the information then finished, "I guess they serve as a kind of bond to the ones I saved, reminding me of my purpose."

There was a long moment of silence before Pyrrha asked softly, "What do you believe is your purpose?"

He cracked a partial smile and turned to look into her piercing green eyes, "To help and protect people, to save them when they need it." He placed his left hand on her right shoulder, "And of course, that applies to you, my queen."

Then there it was, his silly smile that he always had. She began to think of how cute it was when he did it. Her near pale cheeks felt tiny prickles of heat, letting her know that they were turning pink from his words.

She started out shakily, then stabilized "I-I would do the same for you, Jaune," she smiled kindly. A new sensation came over her, like an emptiness that she had always known, now actually stood a chance of being filled.

 _Jaune… You mean more to all of us than you may think._

Pyrrha decided to not let this situation get too awkward so she changed the conversation, "Are you excited for the field trip to Forever Fall? Ms. Goodwitch said we must go there to collect resources for Professor Peach a week from today on Wednesday." The spartan seemed rather excited, "The leaves are beautifully colored…" She stroked her red hair and Jaune connected the pieces for once in his life, she liked the color red. A lot.

"F-field trip? F-forever Fall?" The horrible memories of the forest returned to him.

"Yes, Tuesday we have combat practice, then the day after that is the trip. How have you not heard of this?"

He shrugged nervously, "I-I don't know, it must have just gone in one ear and out the other." He gulped and was already not looking forward to the upcoming events.

* * *

 **There's Chapter Four. Thank you for reading, favoriting, following, and reviewing the story, I still can't believe how much you guys are enjoying it so far. Just want to say it means a lot to me.**

 **Another thank you to my friend JMK2 for helping me with ideas for the story and revising the chapter.**

 **Next chapter is on the way.**


	5. Leadership

**Hey I'm back guys, sorry that this chapter took a bit longer than usual. I was just a little busier during writing this than I was while I wrote the others. Thanks for being patient and understanding. Another thanks to my new co-author JMK2, he's been helping me out for the past couple of chapters and now we're working together on this story.**

 **Anyways, enjoy! (I don't own RWBY)**

* * *

Almost a week had passed since Jaune and Pyrrha's conversation. Team RWBY and JNPR spent nearly all of their time out of classes together, bonding. And for some, their hours were spent getting more familiar with a certain blonde knight, who had been unusually quiet as of late. The academy had calmed down since Initiation, things went on smoothly for most students if they followed the rules. There was one incident where the cafeteria ran out of all pancakes, but let's just say the staff learned their lesson thanks to a ball of pure energy named Nora.

Now, the two teams were present in combat class. This hour proved to be a greater challenge than Jaune had initially expected. He knew from the beginning that his odds of ever succeeding in a match were nonexistent, but he did not foresee that the beating he took would be so brutal.

"This is the part where you lose!"

"Over my dead bo—" The air was knocked out of him as his opponents mace collided with his chest piece, flinging him into a wall with ease.

Jaune crumpled to the ground in a heap, slowly regaining his footing. He checked his Aura and wished this loss would come already. The bully he was fighting, Cardin Winchester, was far stronger than him, and offered little mercy.

The boy was surprisingly speedy for his size, as before Jaune was fully prepared, his attacker was upon him. He slammed his mace against the knight's shield with all of his force, earning a pained yelp from Jaune. The blonde had no choice but to play defensively. He repeatedly blocked every strike with the help of his sword and shield, yet every hit he found himself closer to the arena's edge located underneath the crowd of students.

One missed move led to his downfall. He failed to gauge his Aura correctly, and realized that a moment too late. A swipe aimed at his head clanged against his sword, imposing immense pressure on his weakening power, sending shocks of pain through his arm. He felt his arm go limp by his side, leaving him momentarily vulnerable.

Cardin exploited this with a forceful kick to Jaune's chest, propelling him through the air and into the wall once again. The display screen showed his Aura level drop into the red.

In the stands Weiss covered her mouth in anguish, Pyrrha winced from the last hit her partner took. Blake was next to her frowning and Yang asked, "Why isn't he fighting back? He hasn't taken one swing at Cardin. We all know that he's far stronger than he's showing us here. This should be easy for him…" She was worried for her fellow blonde, but covered it with a falsely annoyed tone.

"Maybe he's just having an off day," Ruby suggested to her sister.

Weiss shook her head subtly, aware of the reason for why the boy was not fighting to his true potential. _Why has Goodwitch not ended the match? Why is Cardin still fighting?!_ She propped her head up with her hands, covering her eyes, only peeking through small gaps between her fingers.

Back in the arena Cardin delivered a swift stomp to Jaune's chest and raised the mace above his head, as if going for a killing strike. Jaune closed his eyes, _goodbye cruel world…_

"Cardin, that's enough," Glynda entered the arena and the bully backed off after spitting on Jaune. The screen's above depicted the results of the match, Cardin's victory, and Jaune's defeat.

"Heh, I won with barely a single scratch," the boy savored the sweet taste of victory as he walked away from them to get to the locker rooms.

"Mr. Arc, it would be wise of you to exhibit the same prowess you had while fighting Grimm, in the arena also. If not, I intend to mark you down accordingly." Her sharp gaze showed disapproval for the boy.

He slowly picked himself up and retreated to the locker rooms, his shoulders slumped in failure. He grabbed his uniform and fled to his room, avoiding Cardin. The blonde would rather shower in his team's bathroom than use the public facilities.

It was convenient to have a long lunch break, providing the perfect amount of time for him to wash up and return to the cafeteria to in time to eat with his friends.

He wasn't in the mood to talk, or eat actually. As Nora told one of her many exaggerated dreams, Ren corrected her, pointing out the true parts of the story. The only one intrigued by this was Yang, she was always interested in a good tale, even if it was fictional. All of the other group members seemed to be focused on Jaune, who was poking a mound of mashed potatoes with his fork.

He propped his head up with one of his arms and used the other to play with his food. A blank stare was directed at the food while he was deep in thought from what Glynda had said. _Why can't I fight people the way I fight Grimm? It's almost the same thing… Except I'm able to kill one, but not the other._

"Jaune, are you okay?" The innocent question came from Pyrrha who sat to his left.

He was pulled back to reality and quickly mocked up a fake smile, "Yeah, look! I'm completely fine!" His awkward laugh and smile gave off a completely different impression. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you seem a bit… Not okay." Ruby looked at him, apparently bothered by this.

"Ruby's right, Jaune. Cardin has been bullying you for days now, and it's taken a toll on your attitude." Weiss added with saddened eyes toward her friend. He was surprised to hear her supporting her partner. Ever since his talk with her, the two had gotten along swimmingly, with the occasional bump every now and then.

Blake was going to add something, but was distracted by a bunny Faunus whimpering, "Ow! That hurts! Please stop…" The shy girl was surrounded by Team CRDL, their leader yanking her ears violently and laughing at her. Blake glared daggers at them with her fiery irises. If looks could kill, Cardin would be a pile of ash by this point.

The knight recognized the Faunus as Velvet, the girl who came to look for him after the ceremony. "Atrocious, I can't stand people like him." Pyrrha's seemed agitated, which was rare for her. She despised the discrimination of Faunus, but was too afraid and cautious to do anything to change it.

"He's not the only one…" Blake's tone showed her despise.

Yang's attention was drawn to the incident and she frowned, "It must be hard to be a Faunus…"

Jaune growled audibly and stood up.

"Jaune, don't do anything you might regret. It's not worth putting yourself in danger for a _Faunus_ ," Weiss sounding more so cold than caring, hinting at her disapproval of the race. The way she spoke the word "Faunus" caused everyone remaining at the table to stare at her, stunned by her offense.

"What's _your_ problem?" Blake directed her glare at the heiress, fully prepared to argue the matter.

Jaune disregarded her and began to approach the bullies, leaving his friends to argue over the discriminatory comment. He made his way over to the scene, prepared to help out the shy girl. Hopefully, without getting beaten to a pump.

"Hey Cardin, wouldn't you rather just torment me instead of her?" Jaune stood right behind him as he turned to confront the knight. His whole team burst into laughter at the blonde. Velvet retreated slowly to escape Team CRDL while he distracted them, mouthing a word of thanks to him.

"Why do you even care? She's only a _Faunus."_ The way him and Weiss uttered the word in that judgmental manner made his blood boil.

"So? They're not any different than us!" Jaune clenched his fists and debated on if it would be wise to instigate a fight. If he chose to fight, he was completely aware that he would be humiliated.

"What? Are you gonna fight me Jauney boy?" Cardin's sneer only fueled Jaune's anger more. By now the two were in each other's space, attracting the attention of the whole room to them.

"No," the firm feminine voice came from behind him. He turned around to see Yang and instantly cooled off, "Nobody is fighting here." She clamped onto Jaune's arm with a bone-crushing grip and yanked him away as the group laughed at the girl for having to avert him.

Cardin scoffed, "What would you do without your _girlfriend's_ Jauney? Seems like you're only still alive because of them."

Yang let go of her friend and whipped around to shoot back a red eyed glare at him, "At least he can get girlfriends! You'll be a lonely loser forever!" The boy shut up after the remark and was conflicted, he was infuriated, but terrified of the girl.

Before Yang could do anything else, Jaune pulled the blonde with him out of the cafeteria, noticing that their teams were already gone. The doors slammed shut behind them as they exited and Yang stole her arm back from him.

"Why did you stop me?! I could have taken him!" Her blood red eyes made him tremble in fear, he had never witnessed this side of her.

"Y-yang?"

His voice seemed to snap her out of the fit. Her eyes faded back to her usual color, and a face of horrible regret now came over her. "Jaune, I'm sorry!"

There was no way his eyes could widen any further. "What was that?" He said seriously, no jokes or smile.

"One of the perks of my Semblance…" She said sarcastically and looked at the ground. "I just lose control sometimes and take it out on whoever makes me the slightest bit mad."

He couldn't stand seeing the typically cheerful girl so down on herself. He simply shrugged, "Hey, it's fine. We all go crazy on occasion."

"But when I do I take it too far," her downcast tone continued to dampen the mood.

Jaune lifted her head up gently to make eye contact with the blonde, "Well, I guess I'll have to get used to it. And maybe I could help you manage your anger, you know?" He shrugged and added, "Like someone to vent to if you have to."

 _Why would he do that for me?_ Yang stared into his eyes, he wouldn't break his gaze away. "Jaune, you don't have to do that."

"I will if it will help you down the road," he smiled sincerely. Neither were aware of what could be avoided in the future if she were only able to control her emotions, and not let her rage overtake her completely. But the two were not gifted with the ability to predict the future. Not psychics. Nobody was, to the knowledge of the world…

She felt flattered, the offer encouraged a light blush to appear on her cheeks. "Thank you, but I won't make you suffer like that," the edges of her mouth were tugged up into a similar smile to his. _At least… Not yet._

He realized his hand still rested under her chin and pulled it back nervously. He blushed and replied, "N-no problem! I-I'm gonna go to class!" Jaune hurriedly walked off to World History, taught by the eccentric Professor (Doctor!) Oobleck.

Yang was only able to tilt her head in curiosity, wondering why the boy was in such a rush.

* * *

Jaune left the classroom with Cardin, finding himself with extra homework that he blamed on the bully. Now, for some reason his partner only knew, he was standing on top of one of the dorm buildings, accompanied by the redhead.

"Pyrrha, I know I've been down lately, but I'm not that depressed…" He peered over the edge of the building, feeling queasy from the height.

As the realization of what he suggested dawned on her she dashed to shove him away from the edge. "N-no! That's not why I brought you here…" The spartan assisted him in standing. "I know you've been having difficulties fighting in class, and you're not yet the best of fighters so… I want to help you!" She beamed, clearly excited to assist the knight.

Jaune was hurt by what she said, "You think I need help?" His dejected tone ripped the smile from her face.

"N-no… That's not what I meant."

"But you just said it." He looked at her with sad eyes.

"I just thought you might want some extra training, there's no shame in receiving help from time to time. You made it to Beacon! That speaks volumes of what you're worth, you belong here!" Her attempt at cheering him up exploded in her face.

He turned away from his partner and replied quietly, "No I don't, I was never accepted into the academy…"

"W-what do you mean?"

His guilt only increased after the innocent question. "I mean, I lied. I got my hands on some fake transcripts, and I lied. I barely passed the entry exams, and failed the combat classes miserably…" He paused and gathered the strength for another reveal, "And do you want to know why!?" He turned back to Pyrrha and his heart ached from lashing out like this. "Because I'm unable to fight an innocent person, even Cardin, he isn't cruel enough to deserve it. I've only physically hurt one person before in my life, and it hurt _me_. But to this day, I don't regret that single fight." He felt his insides flare in fury as he recalled the incident with Weiss at the club.

"Then let me help you, I cou—"

"I don't need your help! I don't want to rely on others because I'm too weak, I want to save people, I want to be the hero my dad once was!" His voice cracked and he felt his eyes fill with drops of depression.

She frowned and reached out to console him, "Jaune, without you Ru—"

"Just… Leave me alone, okay?" He brushed her hand away.

"But yo—"

"Pyrrha… Please," he turned his back to her and wiped the wetness at his eyes away.

She held her left arm tightly with her right, blinking her pained tears away. Her words quivered, "I-If that's what you think is best…" _Why doesn't he see that without him Ruby would not be alive?_

The pain felt by the spartan was unbearable. Her feelings for him were weakened, but she still supported him. He was still the same goofy boy she wanted to be partners with, he was just overwhelmed after today. _All I wanted was to help you…_

Jaune began to pace back and forth after he was under the impression of being alone. An evil laugh coming from the edge told him gulped and wished it was a figment of his imagination.

And there he was, climbing the side of the building, pulling himself up to Jaune's level. None other than Cardin Winchester.

"Well, well, well, Jaune. Looks like we have a situation on our hands…"

 _How could this day possibly get any worse?_

Jaune walked slowly down the hall to his dorm. His shoulders were slumped in weariness and the small amount of confidence he still had in himself crumbled nearly to nothing. Cardin now held incriminating information against the knight, that had the power to get him expelled. Now he must tolerate every single task thrown at him by the bully, no matter the level of severity. His first order had been to collect Rapier Wasps, for what reason Jaune didn't know.

He already delivered the box of wasps to Cardin and his team, so now he was discouraged, and left with multiple stings for his hassle. Once he arrived at his door, he discreetly opened it, hearing Pyrrha confide their leader's previous actions with them.

He closed the door and plummeted to the ground, sitting against the wall. "I'm sorry…" His apology to Pyrrha was useless now, regret occupied his mind.

"Hey, Jaune!" Ruby's cute childish voice rang out from above him. He was lost on how she snuck up on him so easily. "Long time, no see, fellow leader! Did you lock yourself out again?"

"Heh, nope," he flashed his scroll in her view and put it back away, "I remembered it this time."

"So… Why do you look so down?"

"To say the least, I may have done something I should not have, now Cardin owns me, and I think I scared Pyrrha off…" He sighed, "I'm starting to think coming here was a mistake… I'm a failure."

"Hmm, Nope!"

"Uh… Nope?"

"Nope!" Her cute tone turned more serious, "You're a leader now, Jaune. You're not allowed to be a failure."

"But what if I'm a failure at being a leader?"

The redhead pondered his question briefly, "Nope!"

He groaned in reply, so far this wasn't improving his mood in the slightest. "It's not all about you anymore, you have a team now, Jaune. We both do! And if we fail, we'll just be bringing them down with us. We have to put our team first, and ourselves second." She smiled softly up at the knight, "Your team deserves a good leader, and I think that could be you, Jaune."

It took a while for him to soak in her words, "Ruby, when did you become so wise?"

She shrugged simply, "I don't know…" Her expression became more gentle, "Maybe when you saved me."

He cracked a slightly goofy smile and said, "You think?"

The girl nodded and added, "Jaune, you need to realize something…"

He lost the smile and looked down at her curiously, "What's that?"

"You're a huge part of our lives now."

"What do you mean? Who?" His mixed emotions churned inside of him, consisting of sorrow, inspiration, determination, and now, utter confusion.

"Weiss, Blake, Yang, I, and even Pyrrha," she listed. "You've affected us all in different ways."

He opened his mouth to speak but Ruby silenced him with a finger put to his lips. "I'll do the talking, thank you very much!" She said, momentarily returning to a sassy tone, but immediately turning serious.

"You saved Weiss's life, even if you had no clue who she was. It may have been unintentional, but still, you saved a life. For Blake, you stood up for her when no one else had in her time of need. You taught her how to trust, then… Well… She stopped trusting… But now she trusts again! And that's all that matters!" The energetic girl's triumphant yell was startling, yet again changed to be calm. "You're Pyrrha's partner, and you two already seem to be rather close. So don't worry, I'm sure she understands why you did whatever you did." She paused to sigh quietly and she whispered, "You saved me… I'll never be able to repay you for that, Jaune. Neither will Yang, she loves me more than anything, and my dear sister would be completely lost without me. She admires how much of a noble knight you are; I think we all do…" A deep red flushed across her cheeks, visible in the lighted hallway.

Jaune remained silent throughout the entire speech, listening attentively. His mind was sent reeling from the overload of emotions and information being processed. He finally raised an eyebrow, a questioning if she was finished.

"Yes. I am finished, Sir Vomit-Boy." She giggled and then stood up, offering a hand to help up her friend, which he accepted. "Get some sleep, we have a field trip tomorrow!" She threw her arms in the air, expressing her eagerness enthusiastically. Jaune chuckled and disappeared into his room.

Ruby stood there, arms still hung high for a few moments, then dropped them and smiled proudly. _What would everyone do without me?_ She brushed her hands together as if rubbing the dirt off from a long tiring day of work, then returned to her room.

The lights were all off as she closed the door behind her. Right when it shut, someone flicked on the lights.

Yang stood by Ruby, she was the light-switching culprit. A look of disapproval spread across her face. Weiss and Blake could be seen sitting on their respective beds, both holding a similar expression.

Her sister was the first to speak, "And what were you doing, Ruby Rose?" Her eyes narrowed in a not so serious, yet intimidating stare.

 _This isn't good, she used my full name._ Ruby awkwardly chuckled and toyed with her hands nervously, "Heh… Umm… Just helping people?" Her fumbled answer came off more like a question.

"Ruby!" Her partner's sour tone made the redhead wince.

Blake cupped her face in her hands hopelessly.

Finally, Yang added to the reactions of her teammates, "Spill it."

* * *

The next day brought the wait to the Forever Fall trip to a close. Originally, Jaune dreaded the day due to the horrible event he, Blake, and Weiss endured while there. The event that had thrown him into this world of heroes and evil. The memories of that day were still left raw in his mind.

Jaune tapped into another tree, drawing the red sap required for the assignment out. His usual positive attitude was being dampened by the environment. The other members of Team RWBY and JNPR, excluding a certain spartan, had already caught onto this. Two of the teens that had noticed, being Blake and Weiss, suffered from the same struggle. But they were not as upbeat as Jaune usually was, it was not unusual for Blake to be antisocial, and for Weiss to be rude. This made it difficult for the rest to figure the true feelings of the girls.

Pyrrha was the only one to be excluded from this. Since she was under the impression that Jaune still wanted to be alone, she took the liberty of straying from the group, making her way to a secluded spot by a stream. She was confident enough in her ability to protect herself, so she had no worries about any attacking Grimm. Where she was secluded, the others were nowhere near. Nobody was close enough to hear or see her.

Jaune finishing a jar, set it down by the other four he had already filled. While Team CRDL relaxed off somewhere in the woods, he did all of the dirty work for them. His allergies were beginning to act up, causing him to sneeze loudly. He wiped his nose with his black hoodie sleeve, hearing a soft sigh coming from his left.

Upon turning, he inferred that it came from Blake, only because she was the closest one to him. Actually, everyone else was quite far away. Yang and Ruby were poorly hiding behind a tree in the distance, they appeared to be discussing something in a hushed tone. Jaune's other two teammates were closer than the sisters, but not by much. Ren tightened a jar, handing it back to Nora, who promptly opened it to slurp the red sap down. That left the quiet girl in front of him. _I must be forgetting something,_ Jaune scratched his head in wonder of what was escaping his mind.

"This place…" She said lightly, sounding grave for what had occurred here so long ago. She leaned against the tree Jaune stood next to, aiming her saddened gaze at the forest floor.

He put a hand on her shoulder, offering his comfort. His expression resembled hers, "I know," he knew how she felt.

"Is it bothering you both too?"

Jaune and Blake twirled to see the other victim burdened by the horrors of this wretched forest. Weiss's soft winter blue eyes made contact with Jaune's deep blue orbs. Her usual pout was not sour, but sympathetic for her friend's loss.

He nodded solemnly. Blake glared at the newcomer, not expressing the same respect Jaune had. Her amber eyes resembled two flickering flames, prepared to lash out on the girl. With a particular displeasure she retorted, "What do you think, heiress?" She was clearly not over what the Schnee had said the other day about the Faunus.

"What's your problem?" Weiss asked bitterly, immediately turning cold to the girl. She crossed her arms and locked her frozen gaze with Blake's furious flames. Black versus white. Fire against ice. One built up from nothing, the other was handed nearly anything she wanted. The two pictured each other as complete opposites, not daring to venture deeper in order to become familiar with the other. But they were not aware of how truly alike they were…

"Well I thought it was rather obvious." She was implying that their unresolved argument from earlier had not drawn to a close.

Weiss clenched her fists, "Why can't you just move on? It's not like you're one of… _them._ What I said before shouldn't bother you."

The knight looked down, a sting shooting through his heart. A droning ring in his ears began to drown the bickering out.

It felt as if he were reliving the whole scene, playing it back quickly through his glossed over eyes.

 _The wind flying through his hair, the night darkening, leaving the three children under the pale moonlight. The sharp metallic clang that came from his friend separating the cars. His guilty tears dripping onto the heiress, as her blood pooled beneath them. Her cool eyes shutting for what she thought was the last time… The explosion of heat inside of him, the Aura pouring out of him, healing the innocent victim he held gently._

Jaune squinted his eyes shut, wishing the awful memory away.

"Jaune?" Weiss spoke shakily, worried by his strange actions.

His other friend sounded equally as concerned, "Are you okay?"

The voices flew past him, not effecting him in the slightest. If the girls agreed on one thing, it was that he was not alright. For the time being, they would have to push their dispute aside.

A cold and smooth hand placed itself delicately on Jaune, cupping his left cheek. Almost instantly after the first, a second hand with a warmer grip squeezed his right hand, not letting him go. He clenched his right hand tightly as the aching thoughts flooded his mind once again, causing Blake to bite her lip to divert herself from the pain.

 _He heard the weeping coming from his home. The heart wrenching pain seethed into him, the only pain Aura cannot protect from. The hallway, the blood, his…_

"Dad…" He forced out miserably. If his eyes were able to squeeze any more shut, then they would have. It was as if the sword of sorrow had pierced through his heart, causing this eternal guilt he carried.

Weiss spoke quietly into his left ear, "It's not your fault, Jaune." She had spoken these words countless times to him over the years since he was a boy.

He opened his eyes, immediately locking onto the icy irises before him. Their message of pure devotion, misinterpreted by the boy for a simple comfort that came from just a friend. He had been familiar to the beautifully caring gaze for years now, learning to treasure it preciously every time he was blessed with it. She stroked his cheek softly with her thumb, forgetting that Blake was in their company. They had been close for so long, never surpassing the status of friends, much to the girl's dismay. Jaune halfheartedly smiled, causing the edges of her lips to curl in a similar manner.

Blake stood idly by, frowning at the ground. A tinge of jealousy irritating her. The regret and shame for leaving weighing her down immensely. She couldn't help to imagine what would have happened if she never abandoned him, _maybe that could be me, standing there so close to him…_ Her thoughts scattered when a squeeze tightened on her warm hand. She looked up to meet the eyes of the blonde.

"Jaune, I…" She didn't want to tell him, but felt like he should know, and a small part of her wished to distract him from the heiress.

He tilted his head to the side, patiently waiting for her to continue.

"I saw _him,_ " her fear was made visible by her shiver, an unpleasant crawling sensation creeped up her back just from thinking of him.

Any smile that was on his face was wiped away, not leaving a single trace of ever being there. Him and Weiss broke apart from each other, both now giving Blake their undivided attention. He locked eyes with her, blinking twice in disbelief. A blank expression masked his building emotions. Pain, aggravation, anguish, _vengeance._ Weiss remained calm both inside and out, she waited in anticipation for the girl's answer.

"A month before I came to Beacon, I—"

An obnoxious ringtone cut her off, coming from Jaune's Scroll. He scrambled clumsily to snake the device out of his pocket, the two others with him at a loss as to why he was reacting in such an odd way.

The message was from none other than Mr. Winchester. Jaune felt a growing pit in his stomach, he hated his relationship with the young man. Any conversation the three had going was long over, disrupted by the message. "I-I have to go," he said uneasily, shoving the Scroll in his pocket. He wished to hear more of what Blake had to say, but needed to keep his place at this school. That meant he had to leave immediately to meet Cardin, even if he dreaded it.

He blundered over to his stash of five jars, collecting them awkwardly in his arms as he rushed off through the red thicket of the forest. And just like that, the knight was gone from them.

Weiss and Blake gawked at where the blonde disappeared to, completely appalled by his abrupt leaving.

The heiress turned to her teammate, asking in a clueless manner, "What just happened?"

Blake continued to stare at dense brush, replying in a similar tone, "I can only imagine…"

Jaune stumbled and collapsed in front of the team, dropping the five jars of sap onto the turf. His face was puffy for an allergic reaction caused by the liquid. "Good work Jauney-boy." Every member of the Team CRDL grabbed a jar, leaving one for Jaune. "Now let's get to the real business…" Cardin picked the knight up and stood him on his feet, shoving a jar of sap into his gut.

"Come on," the bully sounded vengeful for some reason as he led the other four teens to a clearing in the woods, right by a small stream.

 _This place looks familiar…_ Jaune couldn't figure out the reason why this place looked like from his past.

"Cardin, w-what's going on here?" He spotted his partner, alone, filling a jar up at a tree near the stream.

Cardin stared sharply at the girl, "Payback." He turned back to Jaune, "Looks like she's finally all alone, no one anywhere close to protect her."

Dove approached Cardin and handed him the box of wasps Jaune had wrangled the night before. "Good boy Jaune here rounded up some Rapier Wasps for us, and now we're gonna put him to work." He shook the box to rile them up, "And these things love sweets, especially this tasty sap."

 _Where did that box come from?!_

Jaune awkwardly laughed, clueless to the intentions of these boys, "Heh heh, uh, w-what are we doing?"

"Hit her with the sap, or else I'll let Goodwitch know about your little secret, and then you'll be long gone." Cardin smiled maliciously.

Jaune looked over at Pyrrha, then down at the jar in his hands. There was no doubt in his mind of what the necessary thing to do was. _Looks like this is the end of Beacon for me…_

He gritted his teeth and muttered, "No."

"What's that?"

"I said, no!" He turned and whipped the jar at Cardin's chest, shattering it and spilling the sap all over him.

Cardin started to laugh evilly, "Oh you've done it now…" He failed to notice his teammates behind him, sprinting away in fear. His face then paled, he appeared to be petrified for an unknown reason.

"Heh, not so strong now, are you Cardin?" Jaune smirked and began to walk past the brute. "I guess Jaune Arc is just too much for you guys to handle."

As he passed the bully, Jaune heard annoying clicking and the clang of metal. He spun quickly and was baffled on how this scene completely went over his head.

A Death Stalker was clicking its claws and standing right above Cardin. His mace had been flung to the ground, out of its owner's reach. He looked helpless, sprawled on the ground, about to be gruesomely torn apart by the Grimm.

 _He's still a person. He may not be my friend, but he's a person, that I must protect._

Jaune wielded Crocea Mors and expanded his shield, rolling his sword arm to stretch it. _Let's just not die._ He ran it the beast, a split second before its stinger had a chance to stab Cardin, he blocked it. The sharp appendage pushed against the white shield, but its efforts to pierce the material were futile. His shield was being forced back to him, he needed to break contact.

The knight allowed the scorpion to push his shield arm back to him, then slashed the golden stinger off with ease. Before the tail could flail away in a fit, he swung around the tail and wrapped his shield arm tightly around it. He had not had time to properly think out a plan, he hadn't thought that he would make it this far. Therefore, he was lost on what to do next.

He caught a glimpse of Cardin sprinting away and it made his blood boil. The brat did not have the courage to stay and fight, now he was all alone.

The Death Stalker threw its tail to and fro in order to fling the boy off. It eventually succeeded in doing so, churning his innards and hurling Jaune into a tree. His back had made the first contact with it and the air was sucked out of his weakening body. He collected himself quickly and stood up, shaking his head. The boy checked his Scroll that was secured to the inner part of his shield. His Aura was already in the red zone, signaling him to run or turn to a defensive strategy.

While Jaune was distracted, the Grimm had sufficient time to recover. As he lowered his shield to catch a view of the creature's state, a claw latched onto his midsection, tearing his hoodie and crushing his insides. A glowing beacon of light emerged from his torso, it was one of his marks. He cried out in pain and dropped his shield.

Crocea Mors remained in his other hand for the moment, he refused to let it slip from his grasp. He attempted to sink his blade into the claw, but the enemy smashed him into the ground, knocking the air from his lungs yet again and shattering his Aura.

A groan of agony escaped his lips, the irony taste of blood became present in his mouth. His right hand loosened, letting the ancient weapon tumble to the cold ground, rolling slightly away. He tried to reclaim it, but sadly it was out of his reach.

He closed his eyes. _Get up, Jaune… Get—_

"Jaune!" A screech of pain erupted from the close by scorpion, encouraging Jaune to open his eyes to witness the unfolding scene. What he saw was the possibly the last thing he imagined.

Pyrrha stood above him, wielding her signature shield in her left hand, Jaune's in her right, both of which were fending off the pincers of the beast. "I… Can't…" She spoke in a breathless struggle.

Her javelin rested in one of the many red eyes belonging to creature, deeply imbedded into its socket. He witnessed her sheer strength, being able to hold both appendages back all on her own, but she was faltering. A suffering gasp escaped her lips, she was well aware that this thing was too powerful. Her arms would snap as soon as the forceful pressure punched through her Aura. _I will fall to protect him, because I am certain he would in an instant for me._ Only a miracle would save the two from being torn to shreds.

Jaune felt as if his heart ignited in a bright white light, his marks glowing radiantly. He struggled to raise his right arm, extending it to his partner in a desperate effort to help somehow. It ached, wanting to limply fall to the ground, but he pushed himself to hold it up while it shook uncontrollably. _Don't give up, Pyrrha… Please,_ he begged internally.

A process was set in motion in the boy, occurring in less than a second, as if granting his wish. The scorching whiteness in his heart began to course in his veins, blazing a path that led to his right arm. Once the heat reached its destination, a beaming glow erupted through the skin on this arm, becoming visible to the monster and the owner, but not the girl.

In the blink of an eye, the glow transmitted by the knight to Pyrrha's arms, lighting them in a blinding purity. She widened her eyes in shock, stunned by the amount of power that overcame her. A burning sensation infused her limbs, not of pain, but of new vigor. She felt limitless, unstoppable by any foe that dared to challenge her. With a quick shove, a ripple of force emanated from the dual-wielded shields, sending the beast flying back, crushing the weak trees, causing them to crack loudly and splinter pitifully.

The spartan examined her illuminated arms in awe, fascinated by the mysterious look and strength. Jaune continued to hold his arm outward toward her, fearing what would happen if he dropped it. He was afraid no matter what, he wasn't even sure of what he was doing. He just wished that no one would ever have to die for his sake. Ever _again._

An ear-piercing screech shot out from the shattered path of trees in which the Death Stalker rose. It charged, maddened by the beating it had taken. The forest floor quaked with the pounding of the beast.

Pyrrha was forced to think fast, otherwise she would be in worse shape than her partner. She let Jaune's shield fall to the ground, swapping her own into her right hand. She reeled her arm back, it still pulsed with energy, then effortlessly hurled the shield like a disc through the air. The bronze was a gleaming blur as it cut the air, easily tearing into the right limb of the monster, severing it from the body entirely and throwing the beast into an uncoordinated flail of pain.

She extended her glowing arms, summoning her shield to her left and her spear to her right. She brandished her signature bronze gear, admiring the shimmer cast on the metal by mystical light. _How did she… What?_ Jaune questioned in his thoughts, dropping his arm, forgetting why he had raised it in the first place.

Immediately after he realized his mistake, he noticed that it had no negative effect on the girl. She continued to be buffed by inexplicable power. He sighed in relief and laid back, feeling emptied of energy and like he had been crushed into a pancake. Even though his energy was exhausted, his arm continued to pulse with light.

The enemy was too preoccupied by its latest loss to catch the streak of red and unnatural white sprinting to it. Pyrrha was moving with all her speed, lancing her spear through the air with immense power behind it. The tip sank into the black skull, burrowing deep into it. She leapt high above the monster, then plummeted down, shield first onto her spear, driving the weapon in further. She rolled swiftly off the side of its head, landing steadily on her feet as the Grimm collapsed, dead.

Normally with an Aura level of what hers currently was, the impact would have injured her shield arm from the strain of that hit. But for a reason beyond her knowledge, no jolting pain came. She assessed her current status with the help of her Scroll and physical sense, finding that she was perfectly healthy. Possibly even better off than she had been before the fight. Although now the enhanced strength and Aura she had received were now nowhere to be found. When she looked at her arms, the glow had faded, leaving her normal pale skin in its place.

The dead monster slowly started to dissolve into air, leaving nothing behind from the struggle except a cleared path of nature and a significantly battered knight.

Pyrrha secured her equipment on her back, hearing a low grumble from behind her. She covered her mouth in shock, her blood running cold from forgetting the boy. "Jaune!" She turned and scrambled hastily to him, kneeling by his side.

His eyes were closed, face drained of blood. She heard no breathing, saw no movement. Her mind raced, jumping to the worst conclusion immediately. "Jaune, I'm sorry… This is my fault, for not being by your side," she spoke delicately, as if he was the most fragile gem in the world, "And you've paid the price for my mistake." Her body trembled, her spirit shattered, her dreams of standing by his side for years scattered, cast down into the sinister shade of death. She closed her eyes, feeling the first tear run down her cheek, dripping onto his chest and soaking into his hoodie. "The first person to see me for who I am, not what I am, will never see me again…"

She placed a hand on Jaune's chest, feeling...

Her sparkling green eyes snapped open, "J-Jaune?" She asked incredulously, not certain if this was her imagination forming an illusion to give her hope.

By making contact with the boy, Pyrrha was able to sense the level of his Aura. The manifestation of his soul was not tearing from his body, being released by death of its owner. It was _regenerating._

A strangled grunt came from his parched dry throat, it sounded painful to produce. In a raspy whisper he uttered, "I told you…" His eyes opened, staring up into the beautiful eyes of his caring partner, "I don't go down easily," He grimaced as he shifted sluggishly to prop himself up on his elbows. Pyrrha opened her mouth, prepared to barrage him with the million questions she formulated in seconds. Before she had a chance he flashed a toothy grin, "I'm fine, Pyr." He assumed his prediction on her question was correct when the redhead closed her mouth.

Rustling leaves warned that someone or something was approaching. Pyrrha instinctively rose and armed her weapons, ready and willing to fight yet again to defend the knight. "Come on, the crash sounded like it was from over here!" The two recognized Ruby's high-pitched squeal. They must have heard the Death Stalker crush the trees earlier. About fifteen minutes had passed since its death. _How far had I really ventured from them?_ She placed her gear back in their home and knelt back beside Jaune.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Jaune joked, trying to lighten his partner's mood. He realized how much of a scare he had given her. _She cares about me… A lot…_

She held her left arm with her right. She was not sure why she did this so often around the blonde, maybe it was a method of easing her nerves while around him. Whatever he was doing, wherever he was going, whoever he was with, she was worried for him. Not wanting to leave his side. He was the closest person to her, the one who understood her the most, the one she related to in ways he was not aware of… "I-I thought you were dead," the words stumbled out in a heartbroken breath.

He felt himself acquire enough strength to pull himself up, taking a single knee to the ground in front of her. Once able, he willed himself to stand shakily, still aching from the beating he received. Pyrrha stared at the ground, scanning the turf for anything that might move her thoughts from the subject. A hand obscured her vision from the dirt, a brown fingerless glove covering the palm. She raised her gaze to meet the owner's deep blue eyes, a reassuring smile on his face.

By taking his hand she allowed him to lift her to her feet, maintaining eye contact the whole way up. He embraced her hand with his securely, pulling her close, until a mere inches separated their mouths. Her heart was beating out of her chest, butterflies tickling the insides of her stomach, her mind aflutter with wonderful fantasies. She couldn't resist letting her eyes slip to stare at his smooth lips, then flick back up to reestablish contact to his blue orbs. _Is he going to…?_ Her dream could come true, just if she had the courage to initiate this deceivingly simple motion. An act that meant far more than it seemed, an act of love and devotion, surely he did not view her in that way… _Do I see him in that way?_

The knight stirred all of those questions out of her mind when he spoke strongly, "I will be with you until the end, and will not settle for any less than that." A determined face spanned across his features, revealing a more serious side of the goofy blonde. Showing a mature part of him that few were familiar with. She felt warm inside, safe. Fully putting her trust in him.

A gasp of surprise from a young redhead sounded out from behind them, indicating that their friends had arrived. The two split apart in the fastest that they could, turning to their friends, disoriented by the sudden interruption.

Jaune scratched his head while Pyrrha resorted to bashfully holding her arm once again. "H-hey guys," he glanced at Blake and Weiss who held a similar look of jealousy, then decided the ground was a better target for his eyes.

"Good day, Cap'n!" Nora shouted and saluted him with a giggle. Ren tilted his head curiously, fairly positive he understood what was going on here.

The group approached Jaune and Pyrrha, as they neared they were able to view the blonde's unhealthy paleness and shaky stance he held. Ruby squinted at him to inspect his weak form, realizing how weary he was. "What happened?" The cute squeak that came from her brought the boy an appreciative smile. She was so innocent and adorable, the way she looked at him with overpowering care, worried about him. All of them worried enormously for the boy, and this was becoming clearer to him the longer he spent in their company. Although the reason of why they cared continued to elude him.

Pyrrha took a shot at explaining the unfortunate situation, "Jaune was fi—"

"Pyrrha saved me," he blurted out, interrupting his partner. "I was taken by surprise by a Death Stalker while with Team CRDL. Cardin's teammates left him there to die so I had no choice but to protect him." Yang put her hands on her hips, a cheerful grin shining, _this boy really has guts._

"I took a couple hard hits and knew that I wasn't getting back up, I thought I was going to die," he looked disappointed by being taken down by the Grimm. "Then my spartan in bronze armor showed up, finishing of the beast, saving my life." His gratitude was clear enough for the rest to see. Pyrrha gaped slightly at him, her eyes widened as she heard her partner lie. He completely omitted the ghostly glowing from the story.

Jaune met her eyes, subtly winking to inform her that he knew what he was doing. The gesture earned a pretty pink blush, along with a delightfully radiant smile that brightened the mood between the two. "You know Jaune, you're not the only one capable of saving people." She returned an obvious wink to him, one that everyone else spotted.

Blake turned her side to them, crossing her arms and looking away. She was suspicious of the relationship between the two, but would refrain from interfering. _Why must all of the girls become interested in him?_ Yang's smile was replaced by a frown, noticing the discouraged girl's jealousy. She understood her partner's feelings, mostly because she felt a tad envious of the redhead too.

For ages Yang had been chased after by boys that drooled over her looks. At first they provided a confidence boost to her, but as time went on and she grew up, they only proved to be annoying. Jaune wasn't like those fools, he didn't admire her looks constantly or bug her to go out. He was oblivious of how well he treated his friends and how they reacted to it. _Well, he is foolishly reckless when it comes to playing hero, but that's not necessarily a bad quality._ It's not likely that one day this would cause him to change permanently…

Weiss hesitantly stepped toward Jaune, looking at the tips of her boots shyly. "Are you going to be okay? I know that you don't always look after your own safety in instances like these," she said, wanting him be more mindful for his own well being.

He opened his mouth to speak, only to have Nora steal the words out of his mouth, "Of course he's fine! Our fearless leader laughs in the presence of death!" She said with a beaming smile, thinking highly of his bravery. Ren tapped her shoulder to signal her to calm down, which her only reply was, "What? It's true!"

Jaune shot a glance at Weiss and asked with a chuckle, "Does that answer your question?" She nodded, still not pleased with how he threw himself in harm's way yet again.

Out of absolutely nowhere, Glynda Goodwitch strode into the scene, taking them all by surprise. She appeared to be frustrated, which was definitely not out of the ordinary. Except this time, she seemed more worked up than usual. "Mr. Arc, Ms. Nikos, please come this way at once. You two will be taking the first bullhead back to Beacon, while I stay here with the rest of the students." The words struck Jaune deeply, like a sword being thrust into his gut. He gulped and frowned dismally, aware that this would not turn out well. _She definitely knows about the transcripts. Thanks to Cardin, I'll be out of Beacon before the day ends. Goodbye friends…_

"But why?" Ruby impolitely threw out before anyone could stop her. She received a disapproving glare from the professor that made her regret asking.

"The headmaster wishes to have a word with them. _Immediately."_ The two teams knew that there would be no additional arguing. Nothing they could say would change anything. Team RWBY along with Ren and Nora watched as the two partners were escorted by the strict teacher through the woods. All of them shared the same anxious look, hoping that whatever happened to them would not be too serious.

* * *

 **So how was the chapter? Let me know what you think in a review if you want. Thanks for reading and supporting the story.**

 **Again, thank you to JMK2 for helping me with the story and revising the for the past couple of chapters.**

 **See you in Chapter 6.**


	6. Legends

**Ok, hey guys. Ah, another chapter is here. Get ready for a talk. A Loooong talk. But not** _ **the talk.**_ **You know, not the one with the… Birds and the… Ok yeah, I think you get it! Anyways… (I do not own RWBY at all) (Revision done by JMK2 on 3/21/16)**

The roar of the Bullhead died down after landing at the Beacon air docks. This specific ship carried just two passengers back to the school. A blonde knight, and a redheaded spartan. One of them already had a decent prediction of what this meeting would entail, the other was not as certain.

Jaune remained still, his queasiness ceasing to bother him now that they were grounded. He sat in a seat mounted on the wall next to the ship's side opening. His stare was locked on the floor, not budging for anything. _I had no other choice, it was the only way for me to go here. Why can't I just fight the way others can? They make it look so easy, I just don't understand..._ He heard a shuffling noise by his side, but paid no attention to it. _What will my friends think when they find out?_

He frowned in self-disappointment. _Will they take the information easily like Pyrrha had? Ruby and Yang will probably take it lightly, considering the Initiation thing. Nora will most likely be fine after a couple of pancakes. But Ren is stricter and more adherent to the rules, he won't be as forgiving._ He rubbed his eyes, covering them in shame, not being sure how Weiss and Blake would react.

"Jaune?" His beautiful partner snapped him out of his worry. He had been too distracted to notice her stand up in front of him. She looked down at the boy with sad eyes, "Did you hear me?"

Feeling disoriented after the sudden interruption in his thoughts, he replied, "Uh… Y-yeah, totally…" His shaky voice would not have been able to fool anyone, especially not Pyrrha.

She raised a questioning eyebrow, "Then, if I may ask, what did I say to you?"

He racked his brain, searching for a reasonable answer, "You said…" She crossed her arms, tilting her head to the side. He gave in, crooking his neck down to tell the truth, "I guess I might not have been listening…"

"I thought so," she refrained from cracking a joke at a time like this, and decided to inform him on what he had missed. "I asked if you were planning on accompanying me to the meeting or staying here, leaving me to go alone." She spoke neutrally, "Though, I do believe this meeting was intended for you rather than me."

"Y-yeah let's go," the lump in his throat deterred him from saying anything else. Plus, after that fight he had little left to give.

The usual brightness in the girl's face had long since faded into a dim pout. She exited the Bullhead first, waiting for her partner to follow. The sun was almost completely sank over the horizon, so the path leading onto the school grounds was lit by pale lamps that sensed the lack of light. The bulbs gave off slightly green tinted rays on the two as they walked.

Jaune followed behind Pyrrha, listening to the heels of her boots clack against the concrete, breaking the evening silence. His hands crammed into his pockets and his gaze fixed on the ground as he moved along. The guilty conscience that burdened him threw him into a sulky mood. He couldn't help feeling this way, he did something wrong, and now he was going to pay for it.

In the distance the mechanical rumble of approaching Bullheads reached his ears. _Probably just the others getting back after the trip._ Jaune's lowered stare had been too focused on the hard floor to realize that they already had arrived at the elevator. He collided into Pyrrha's back, not budging the girl at all, yet managing to fall on his own rear clumsily.

The spartan turned to him, looking down at her partner with pity. Under normal circumstances, she might have let loose a laugh at the accident-prone boy for the mistake, but now was not the time for that. She knew this situation was serious. After helping him up, the elevator dinged to signal it had arrived. The students entered the metal transport slowly, the doors closing immediately behind them.

Jaune was biting his lip and his eyes widened in anxiety. _I don't want to leave…_

Pyrrha gave a sidelong glance at him, offering sympathy his way. "Jaune, it'll be okay," truthfully, the girl had no idea what was going to happen, or if would be good or bad. She just wanted to see him calm down, it was dismaying seeing the knight so disturbed. Unfortunately, her words had little to no effect on him. His worry eating all of the joy out of him.

Another ding went off, showing that they had reached the top floor. This time, the sudden noise nearly caused Jaune a heart attack. The doors pulled to opposite sides to let the partners in, opening to reveal an almost entirely empty room bathed in pale green light. It was mainly based around clockwork gears and glass. The different gears working to continuously move, producing not a single noise in the process. The ceiling of the room was covered in glass, more of the intricate pieces cooperating for an unknown purpose.

One of the few pieces of furniture was a strangely shaped desk with gears interacting together under the glass top, it had a stable base that was supported by curved silver legs. Two plain black chairs sat on the side of the table closest to the teens. The back of a rotating chair formed out of stacked silver metal rectangles seated the owner of the of the peculiar room. Not to mention the owner of Beacon Academy. The silver-haired man gazed off into the distance through a large circular glass window, as if staring off into another realm, located in a faraway place. The window had numerals secured on it, turning it not only into a spectacle to view the school grounds, but also a convenient clock.

Jaune and Pyrrha walked silently into the room, with every step taken their dreadful anticipation increased. Once they reached the two chairs, they halted and stood there awkwardly, not certain if they should take a seat or remain standing.

A brief sip broke the silence as the headmaster spun his chair to face the duo, lowering the mug from his face and nodding towards the two chairs. "Please, take a seat," he said with an affable tone, "It would be rude of me to not offer the both of you a seat."

Pyrrha rushed to sit, while Jaune took his time, wishing there was some way to avoid this discussion. He looked down at his hands, awaiting the imminent dreaded words that would end his dreams of ever becoming a Huntsman. The words that would end his dreams of following in his father's footsteps. _On the bright side, I might still be able to help people out… And maybe my new friends will visit me at home while they have time off from their Huntress duties…_ Resorting to those thoughts only caused a frown to pull at his lips.

"So… You two seem to have had a rather interesting day," he stated knowingly, focusing his deep brown gaze through his odd glasses on Jaune, "Glynda passed on information from Mr. Winchester, of specific details regarding your application to Beacon, Mr. Arc." His voice came off as stern and disapproving, then switched to a more pleasant (but not too pleasant) tone, "But that is only one of the few matters we must discuss here tonight."

Ozpin's words sparked the boy's interest, calling him to raise his now curious eyes at the man. _What? Why are we here then?_ He didn't dare ask aloud, that would be disrespectful to the headmaster and would not help his situation.

The stoic man shifted his look over to Pyrrha, "And you Ms. Nikos, how are you feeling? Anything… Out of the ordinary?" He raised an inquiring eyebrow at the girl, looking forward to her answer.

"I feel perfectly fine, n-nothing unusual at the moment. Why do you ask?" Her voice trembled, she couldn't help feeling intimidated by the man. He only nodded and gave a small hum in response to the question. Her eyes locked with his, it took every bit of her strength to not break contact with the wise man.

His ears easily picked up on the girl's panic, "There is no need to fear me. After all, I have no intention of expelling anyone for today."

Jaune gawked at the man, his hands clenched the armrests, his mind whirling as if his thoughts were twirled in a tornado of shock. Pyrrha almost leapt out of her chair in excitement and relief, now being certain that the blonde knight would remain at Beacon, he'd stay on her team, and most importantly continue to stand by her side. She beamed brightly at her partner, subconsciously betraying her emotional constraints by resting a soft hand on his. She mentally thanked whoever or whatever set their paths of fate on a course that lead to them being brought together in this way.

Jaune attempted to speak, but choked on his spit in his eagerness to talk, drawing an embarrassed blush from him as he cleared his throat. Pyrrha hummed a gentle giggle next to him, pulling her hand back to stifle the laugh. The headmaster let a subtle smirk loose. Before the teens had a chance to catch him in the act he hid it with a plain face. The boy's clumsiness reminded him greatly of a friend from his past…

"Although I do not condone your methods of entering this prestigious academy, I do not feel the need to expel you, Mr. Arc." He then spoke with a slight sense of approval, "You obviously have proved your worth during Initiation by your sacrifice to save Ms. Rose. In your past as just a boy, you expressed similar heroism when saving a young Ms. Belladonna from bullies, and an innocent Schnee heiress from a deranged murderer." Ozpin was aware of Adam's mental state and his infamous criminal organization, but felt that now was not the time to discuss those matters.

Jaune wasn't sure if he should feel honored or creeped out that this man knew his past so well. "Uh, h-how do you know all of that?" His grip tightened on the chair, whitening the knuckles of his fingers.

The silver-haired man placed his mug on the glass table, stirring the iced coffee and leaning back slightly in his chair, taking his sweet time to reply. Jaune and Pyrrha sat on the edge of their seats, waiting for the man to speak already. Finally, he said, "I have been observing over you since the day you were born, Mr. Arc. Only due to the fears held by Leonidas Arc."

"My dad?" Jaune tilted his head, puzzled on why his father was brought into this conversation. Ozpin nodded shortly.

"Indeed, your father and I maintained a longstanding friendship throughout the years. We stayed in contact after becoming acquainted at a young age." The man glanced up, inspecting the gears as they shifted and operated, reminiscing the interesting memories linked to this knight's father. "In fact, if I recall correctly, he owned a similar clumsy nature that you now possess. Never a dull moment…" He lowered his eyes to look back at the boy.

Jaune remained quiet, Pyrrha shifted in her chair to gain a more comfortable position. Both of them held the same desire to hear more from the man. He spoke in a grim and lower tone, "The day that he passed, I immediately was aware of the loss." He furrowed his brows and looked to the ground in respect for the fallen knight. "I _felt_ it…"

The boy looked into the wise man's eyes, realizing how close the two had been. He frowned, missing his father. He wished that he was capable of going back in time to see him again. His father was the best dad in the world, always being there for the family and fighting to make the world a better place for the ones he loved. _At least that's what mom said. I'll believe it no matter what. I will always remember him as a hero._

It was then that Pyrrha chirped up, her beautifully innocent voice breaking the dead silence, "What was it that you felt, sir?"

"Detachment."

The two had previously thought it impossible for him to look any more serious, they were very wrong. With the pause he was motionless, not a single hair on his body stirring as he added, "By losing my dearest friend, the bond between us was severed. Leaving behind a dreadful and undying emptiness that continues to linger over me to this moment in time. Inexplicable." He set his scrutinizing gaze on Jaune, with a strange look of what he could only assume was curiosity. As if he wanted to ask something important. His face had remained neutral for the entire duration of his talk, and he carried it along when saying, "Your mother brought to my attention her experiences of a feeling close to mine. I suspect that you are also subject to this undesirable result of the loss," he raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

Jaune's heart began to race, thumping a booming beat that he feared they could hear. He thought it would burst right out of his chest from the all of this confusing new information. _Why is he telling me this? It doesn't need to be discussed anymore…_

His partner looked at him with soft eyes, sensing his internal strife. She was wary of speaking out of turn at the meeting to comfort him, but her gut instinct told her to go ahead and offer him help. "Jaune, it's okay. There's nothing to be worried about, Professor Ozpin is only trying to help you," her words were sympathetic and honest, putting him at ease. _At least I'm fairly certain he is helping._

Ozpin admired the girl's care for Jaune, he saw that she held great feelings for the blonde, and somehow those emotions easily eluded him. He really was his father's son.

"I-I did feel that way. But with Weiss's support the gap in my heart left by Blake and my father began to be less painful." He spoke simply and quietly, calming himself down with a deep breath and scratching the scruffy hair on the back of his head.

Whatever Jaune had said obviously sparked surprise from the headmaster, the only indication being a glint that was now present in his wizened brown irises. Like the all-knowing man had heard something unexpected, which was not at all common. He leaned forward, propping his elbows on the glass surface and clasped his hands together in front of him.

He seemed a tad impressed by the recovery the boy went through. "Mr. Arc, you seem to be the only being in this world adept in amazing me."

Jaune ignored his last comment and spoke without thinking, "I don't understand why any of this matters, why are you bringing this all up?" He was oblivious to how impolite he came off as.

"It is essential for me to inform you because I believe you possess a Semblance related to your father's." He remained cool and stern while the boy grew a face that seemed to ask something along the lines of 'Wait, what did he just say?'

The teens felt like a million years had passed before the man finally began, "As you two already know, Aura is the manifestation of one's soul. Used to protect us from harm or enhance our ability to inflict it." This was not new information to them, they have heard this countless times in the past. Ever since they had their own power's unlocked. "Each individual shielded by Aura is able to pool their energy to a fixed amount, this being the greatest extent of their force." Ozpin paused, much to the dismay of the others. He was completely aware of how neither of them wished to wait longer for an answer, but he had never been the type to rush through things. He was always patient, observing every situation presented to him carefully, not missing a single sign. "Yet a very small few have the potential to receive excess power, expanding the maximum of their reserves from their deep bonds created with others. In turn, this allows them to buff their force in fighting, or restore a wounded ally to health."

A dawn of realization overcame Pyrrha as she soaked in the information. Jaune asked, "So I can do that? And how are these bonds actually made?" He had hundreds of questions in his head, but refrained from asking them so that he could receive some answers first.

"This intimate attachment seems to be formed by frequent interaction between the owner of the power and another individual. As time progresses, the trust of this individual becomes cemented in the other, and a bond begins to develop. At least that is what I am able to ascertain from my previous relationship with Leonidas." Ozpin required a break from all the talking he had been doing. He lifted his mug and took a quick sip of his dark beverage, then resumed his neutral expression with the asking of another question, "Tell me young man, do you recall your Aura acting unusual following the cold reunion you had with Ms. Belladonna?"

The blonde adopted a look of confusion, "Yeah. It was like I had taken a beating without actually fighting." His partner had already more or less put the pieces together on what Ozpin was getting at, but he still had not.

The professor nodded knowingly, as if he had predicted that answer accurately. "That is a consequence of losing the support of a friend." He had a serious look upon his face, "The night of the ceremony, she severed the connection shared with you, resulting in your Aura level reducing a tenth from its greatest."

"How do you know all of this?" Jaune fidgeted in his seat, he was uncomfortable from how much the man knew about him. _It does make sense though, why else would I have felt so physically hurt after that?_

"Following the mishap in Initiation, I took it upon myself to keep a constant, around the clock monitor on your Aura levels. Wherever you may be, we will be aware of irregularities involving your energy that are identical to what occurred in Forever Fall today." He spoke as if he had not intruded on Jaune's privacy, which only made the boy feel all the more violated.

Pyrrha built up the courage to ask a worried question, "Excuse my asking, but what would happen to Jaune if he were to somehow lose the trust of multiple friends at once?" Her hands were clasped tightly together in her lap; her body stiffened. The look on her face consisted of a tiny frown that added to her troubled appearance.

A slightly pleased smile crossed Ozpin's face, she really had taken a special fondness toward this knight. "Ah, yes. The _one_ significant difference between you and your father's Semblance that I have discovered, though there is bound to be other inexplicable aspects," he took a swift swig from his mug, leaving the duo in anticipation yet again.

 _Does he take some sort of pleasure in making us wait for his answers?_ Jaune squinted his eyes curiously. Pyrrha bit the inside of her cheek nervously, hoping that this difference would work to the benefit of her friend. And thankfully, it did.

"After Glynda and I studied your Aura more closely, we discovered that there is a limit to the harm done by trust being broken." He sighed internally before saying, "Yet we still have not been able to precisely determine that base line." He said with a hint of frustration that went undetected by the partners.

Before they could continue asking, the elevator rang, announcing the arrival of the aforementioned professor. "Right on time, as always," the man announced, unsurprised.

The strict woman strode over to Ozpin's desk, her heels sharply clicking against the cold floor with every step, acting as if he had said nothing. She slapped her Scroll onto the surface which projected a transparent blue hologram as she crossed her arms. The image appeared to be a line graph that shifted phases to the right, exposing another slide every five seconds. The vertical label marked the energy levels, the maximum being one hundred fifteen. That was the maximum level of Aura for the average person: one hundred and fifteen. On the horizontal axis was the time for each instance of change.

She turned to Pyrrha with the usual uptight frown placed on her lips, "Ms. Nikos, would you please place your Scroll next to mine?"

The spartan had no hesitation at all. She shakily removed her device from the pouch on her left hip and set it beside the other one on the table. As soon as is it made contact with the glass, it projected a similar graph that synchronized time with the first.

"The data displayed by my scroll is a representation of Mr. Arc's Aura during his latest encounter, the other shows the levels of Ms. Nikos."

On Jaune's blued information, the course began with a stable Aura level of one hundred and forty-five, while Pyrrha's only started at one hundred and fifteen. _So, he wasn't lying about the friends… But who trusts me that much?_ He thought to himself as the images began to shift phases. Over the next couple of slides his levels appeared to diminish, _hundred thirty-five, hundred and one…_ He winced in remembrance when he saw it plummet greatly, that must have been when he hit that tree. _Thirty-seven._ His line had faded from the pure green into a dark red. _Twelve… Zero…_ His bar had flattened to the base of the graph, now a solid black, showing that his power had completely drained.

For the duration of Jaune's lowering, Pyrrha's remained completely full. The point where the girl's began to drop was almost immediately after her partner's had blackened. It adjusted gradually, lowering one percent every second, until reaching a yellow color.

Then both levels skyrocketed, blasting past the limit of one hundred fifteen easily, putting that number to shame. The lit hologram then was whisked away in darkness, both devices were off. Only the pale green light of the room reflected off the screens. The duo stared at the air where the images had previously been, aware of what the sudden jump had represented.

Glynda held her left wrist in her right hand behind her back, standing straight, blinking in disbelief of how such a thing could happen. "Unbelievable…" She now stood by the headmaster's side, taking her place at second in command of the academy.

Ozpin took another sip of his drink then spoke, "Are you both… Feeling well?" He raised an eyebrow and seemed a tad uneasy, as if he was not sure about something. They both nodded back to him quickly.

"W-what happened with us in the forest exactly?" Jaune asked shyly.

The headmaster sighed in weariness, preparing himself to have possibly one of the most vital conversations of his life. He paused for a long moment before leaning his elbows onto the table, leaning toward the company he had. The man spoke in a lowered voice, like he feared someone was eavesdropping on their discussion, "Are either of you familiar with the stories of the _Transcendence of Color_?"

His words sent shivers down Pyrrha and Glynda's spines, their skin prickling in a peculiar feeling. The spartan elicited a near silent gasp excitedly, she loved this tale ever since she was a little girl, but had not heard it in a long while, causing her to be uncertain on the specifics. Jaune blinked at the man vacantly, he was especially lost now. He had never been told of these tales by his parents or siblings, and for good reason.

Ozpin let the tiniest of smiles tug at his lips. Jaune's partner obviously already knew somewhat about the subject, but he was going to need more explanation. Thus, he began the tale, "It is believed widely that man was born from dust, cast down into an unforgiving world of inevitable darkness. Years of immense effort to survive proving fruitless. The onslaught of the most wretched of beings ripped whatever groundwork humanity established apart, leaving them with nothing countless times. These creatures, appropriately named Grimm, became intent on eternally expelling man to the void from which they arose."

The youth sat there, heeding to every word like children listening closely during story time. Even Glynda appeared to be drawn in by him. They have all heard the history of humanity's origin on Remnant, but this tale deviated from the ones in text books.

"Attack after attack by the Grimm resulted in the number of our kind dwindling, only six able-bodied warriors left, no more, no less. Yet one cold night, where the sky was clear and unobscured by the naturally nocturnal shroud of gloom, the star's piercing brightness visible to them for the first time. An unidentified orb of light shone down upon the remaining six, filling them with wonder." As if on cue, the moon became visible to the duo from behind Ozpin through his window.

He spoke in an enchanting storytelling voice, one that captivated his audience, "A deafening crack boomed through the air, the world began to shake beneath their feet, causing them to investigate the source of this uproar. The reason was discovered in the ring of light that had previously attracted their attention. Except now they found this round brightness divided, shattered by an unknown force from above. The _remnants_ lingered near to where they once had been assembled, all but _seven."_

A tingling feeling passed through Jaune's veins, he had not blinked a single time during the story because he wanted to concentrate completely. A couple of times he forgot that he must breath, the only thing reminding him to was the lightheadedness brought on by a lack of oxygen. Pyrrha had an enticed expression on her face, while Glynda stood by the man, yearning for more of the 'fabled' story.

"These fragments were set apart from the others, they glowed with a far more supernatural light as they followed behind each other, streaking across the night sky in. This phenomenon regarding the seven remnants illuminating the sky is now sparsely known today as the Transcendence of Color." Jaune blinked at the last three words, feeling finally enlightened by this knew knowledge.

"According to the legends, as the seven streaked across the sky, they expressed each color of the spectrum. Hence the name it received. But who can be certain that actually happened? Keep in mind, this _is_ simply a _fictitious_ legend," a strange sparkle in his eyes along with a hint of a smirk told them otherwise.

He almost immediately returned to his place in the story after taking a quick breath, "Only the head of the seven separated, some prefer to believe it was the yellow fragment since it is indeed the most luminous of the spectrum. It beamed toward the few humans left at unbelievable speeds, the blur clashed with our world, leaving behind a yellow smoldering crater."

"And in this crater, a child. A gracious gift offered by the mysterious creators of Remnant. A born leader, who with the assistance of his abilities, would light the path for mankind. Leading them through the darkness to discover dust, which only made the process of establishing civilization go more smoothly."

Ozpin felt parched after the lengthy story, he took another drink from his mug. Somehow it still was not empty, despite his constant use of it during the meeting. Glynda broke the silence that followed the story, "These types of heroes born during the Transcendence of Color wield extraordinary power, that normal people are unable to imagine possessing."

"They progress to become skilled strategists, valiant leaders capable of standing up against seemingly unbeatable odds, succeeding in overcoming them and reigning victorious. But these beings are not capable of doing this on their own, for their strength lies in empowering those around them, however that may be." The headmaster stated as he laced his fingers together and rested his hands atop the desk.

For the first time in ages Jaune spoke slowly, with much less energy than before, "So… Someone at Beacon is one of those?" His partner turned to look at him with her concerned eyes, he looked downright exhausted. His eyes were half-lidded, he was talking slower and dimmer than usual, and his shoulders sagged. It made sense for him to be this way after the kind of day he had suffered through.

Pyrrha began to put the pieces together of the fight in the forest and the reason for the professors telling them this. _It all makes sense!_ "Jaune, I think they're saying that _you_ are the chosen leader," her excitement clear to them.

His sleepy eyes shot right open at that, an awkward and drowsy sounding laugh tried to dismiss this, "Heh… Uh, w-what?"

"Throughout history, when the world of Remnant is in dire need, a noble hero is born. Arriving to serve their true purpose and lead us through our darkest times," Glynda replied, thinking that the boy would understand how important he truly was. "And these are indeed dark times."

"Wait, so I came _from the moon_? Like an alien?" A weird tone in his voice; this was by far the most impressed in himself he had ever been.

The woman pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, hoping that this was just his tiredness speaking. _How? Just, how does he not see the point of this?_

Ozpin let out a brief and quiet chuckle, "No, young man. You are as much human as Glynda and myself are. Only in your case, a tremendously unique event occurred during your birth, gifting you with unfathomable power."

"Why didn't anyone tell me of this? Why was I left in the dark for so long?!" His aggravation was evident as he raised his voice to a yell, uprooting himself from the chair and clenching his fists. This anger was caused by all of the things he could have done in the past if he was aware of this power. _What could I have stopped?_

"It was in our best interest to keep your potential a secret, in order to minimize the amount of unwanted attention you attracted. Yet our efforts proved useless when word spread of your saving of Ms. Schnee." Ozpin's voice was cool and smooth, not at all affected by the boy's rage. "However, we must continue to do our best at keeping your abilities hidden. If we fail to do so, we may risk the chance of certain individuals attempting to…" He paused, fearing what could happen. "Alter your course."

Jaune immediately thought of the dreams, but refrained from mentioning them. _I'll never give in to them, no matter what._ Yet the blonde knight had no clue what his future held… He suddenly realized the amount of pressure on him. The weight of the world had been forced upon his shoulders, crushing his spirit. "What if I don't want to be special?" He spoke dejectedly as he looked to his sneakers. Pyrrha offered him support by standing beside him, placing her warm hand on his shoulder.

"Mr. Arc, you do not understand the complete situation. There will be a day in which you and your friends will be required to do something no one else is capable of…" Ozpin looked as if he was about to say something else, but his Scroll received a message. He checked it quickly, then looked up to Jaune saying, "You are excused young man. Return to your team immediately. And please, try to be _discreet_ about this new information."

Jaune scratched the back of his head, sounding puzzled, "Okay… Come on Pyrrha, let's go."

They turned to walk away, but were halted by the man adding, "There are still matters we must discuss with Ms. Nikos." He now held his cane while sitting, poking the ground with the tip.

She whirled to return back to her seat in an instant. She wished to stay with her partner and talk more with him, but that appeared to be out of the question at this point. Before leaving, Jaune threw a hesitant glance back. He felt worried to leave her alone but wasn't sure why. As the thick elevator doors closed, he was able to hear his name brought up between the three.

He frowned, feeling left out for them excluding him from the rest of their conversation. _What could they have to talk about without me?_ The elevator reached the bottom floor, opening up to allow him to exit. It had to be very late, no students were anywhere to be seen, the halls were silent, and outside it was much darker than it had been at their arrival.

The trip to his dorm took less than five minutes, and he still had not seen a single soul. Once he arrived at his room, he heard whispering coming from the other side of the door. He knew that something was up, Nora was not the whispering type of girl. When he tried to hear if Team RWBY was still awake, he didn't pick out any talking coming from their room.

He raised an eyebrow to himself, wondering what was going on here. He opened the door slowly, causing an annoying creaking noise that he feared could draw the attention of the world. His eyes focused on the ground as he entered the darkened room with tiny light steps.

When he looked up, the rainbow of eye colors from RWBY and the other two members of JNPR latched onto him, making him feel uncomfortable since they were all just waiting there. "Jaune!" Both Nora and Ruby squealed, they were standing on Nora's bed while Ren sat on his, Yang sat on Pyrrha's along with Blake, and Weiss sat on Jaune's.

Jaune felt as if their looks could burn holes right through him. "Hey guys, what's the occasion for you all being here?" He scratched his head sheepishly.

"Sleepover!" Nora shouted enthusiastically as she and Ruby leapt up into the air simultaneously, high-fiving midair. He could already tell that those two were going to be the best of friends, they were so alike in their energetic nature and more childish attitudes.

The blonde boy gave a lighthearted smile at the two, then Ren spoke politely, tilting his head quizzically, "I do not recall agreeing to this…" The two bouncy girls laughed at him, not giving up on their plan.

"Actually, we were waiting for you and Pyrrha to come back. So we decided to come here so that we knew exactly when you were back." Weiss pointed out calmly. She was dissatisfied with Ruby and Nora, but lately she had been more lenient with her excited partner, and not as harsh as she used to be.

Yang looked past Jaune through the still opened door and into the hallway, "Speaking of which, where's Pyr?"

His smile transitioned into a disturbed frown, "She uh, had to stay for something else." He still was bothered that they had something to say about him that he couldn't listen to.

Everyone in the room sensed the boy's upsetting thoughts. Ruby and Nora relaxed and sat down on the bed, now completely silent. Blake finally spoke up, "What was this meeting about?" She locked her caring eyes with his, wanting to find out why he was so down.

He cooked up a lie, trying to hide his newly discovered abilities but not wishing to tell of how he made it into Beacon. Unfortunately, he was not as convincing as he thought he was. "They j-just wanted to know more about Pyrrha's Semblance, polarity. I-it's pretty cool actually, she can move around metal and—"

"Jauney, do you really think we're believing that?" Yang crossed her arms, Blake had already done the same.

Weiss felt hurt that he was trying to lie, after how long they have trusted each other, "You're not the best at being dishonest…" She dropped her gaze to her hands that rested in her lap.

"Yeah Vomit-Boy, you've gotta work on that," Ruby couldn't help snickering at his failure, she covered her mouth to lessen how loud she laughed.

He sighed, preparing himself for whatever reaction they might have to his disgraceful method of coming to the school. "I'm just going to keep this short," they all nodded, "I made it into Beacon by using some fake transcripts because I couldn't get past the combat exams." He scrunched his eyes tight after exhaling the words hastily, expecting to be torn apart by their wrath, but it never came. There was silence.

The boy opened only a single eye to assess his situation, then flicked the other open too. Weiss appeared to understand, for she had already known his difficulties of fighting another person. Ren narrowed his eyes, now suspicious of what else Jaune had lied about. Nora looked surprised and was not certain how she should feel. Ruby and Yang did not seem bothered at all by this. If he had not gotten into Beacon, Ruby most likely would be dead.

Blake sat there, her expression unreadable. She averted her eyes from him, now looking at the ground in front of her. "Why?" Her disappointed voice made him feel cold inside as he looked down in shame. "Couldn't you just have practiced like the rest of us and earned your place?" Out of the corner of her eye Blake saw a flash of white, moving toward the door where Jaune was.

"He can't fight the way we do, Blake," the heiress said defensively. The black-haired girl found the Schnee now standing beside Jaune, looking up at him.

"What do you mean?" She lightened her voice, making the boy feel a bit more welcomed by her.

"I mean, that he is unable to physically hurt someone without a probable cause to do so." A vivid memory came back to her. She recalled the man at the club and Jaune's outrage. All to protect her…

Ruby was confused and tilted her head, "So does that mean you're a pacifist?"

He chuckled slightly, "No, I can fight monsters. Just I can't fight people unless someone is in danger or they have done something horrible."

The redhead murmured, accepting his response as she laid on her back.

"Well, it looks like we will have to do some work prior to the Vytal Festival Tournament," Ren gave one of his reserved smiles, filling Jaune with joy that his teammate accepted him even after hearing about his past mistake. Though a part of him dreaded the approaching festival.

Yang cracked her knuckles with a mischievous grin, "Yeah, I won't be going easy on anyone, not even you, Lady-Killer. I guess I'll help you if it means a better fight."

"Heh, good luck. Once Jaune is battle ready, we're gonna crush you!" Nora gave an evil smirk, one that was somehow more scheming than Yang's.

The knight looked to Blake, hoping that she was not still upset with him. A cute smile rose on her beautiful face, a nod from her relieved him.

 _Maybe with their help I'll be able to fight. How hard can it be?_ He reassured himself, feeling a bit more confident that his friends all supported him. "I'm going to get a breath, it feels a bit too stuffy in here," he turned his back to them, about to walk out the opened door.

"Are you sure you wish to go alone?"

He looked back to see a pouting heiress, her pleading eyes begging to tag along. He shook his head while smiling, "I need a bit of silence." As he exited the room and closed the door, he managed to catch Ruby and Nora continuing to push for a sleepover. He began to walk away from the room, hearing a triumphant roar of cheers. _Tonight is going to be interesting…_

The blonde knight stood above the dorms on the rooftop, his eyes focused on the shattered moon. This was the place at which he snapped at Pyrrha, he still regretted acting so hostile toward his beautiful partner.

He thought back to the tale of the legendary hero, letting his mind drift, imagining himself as one. It made him laugh aloud, it all sounded so ridiculous. Yet the more he thought it over, the more it made sense. His humor covered up the subtle footsteps, making him unaware of the approaching girl.

"Feeling alright, Jaune?" A sweet and melodic voice filled his ear from his right side, startling him inwardly.

"Yeah, just needed a bit of alone time." He said, not turning to look at her, for he already knew it was the caring and brave redhead who had saved him earlier.

She had a mischievous smile and teased, "Oh, so I guess I should be on my way…" The girl turned, pretending to leave him there.

"N-no!" He sputtered out urgently, "T-that's not what I meant!" He softly grabbed her arm, tugging her to him, earning a deep blush from the spartan. "I need to tell you something…"

Pyrrha felt her heartbeat intensify, her body heating up as she stood facing the handsome blonde. She craned her neck up slightly to look into his deep blue eyes with hers glistening in anticipation. "Yes, Jaune?" Only a whisper was necessary to get her message across.

He peered back into her orbs, speaking in an apologetic tone, "I'm sorry for being such an idiot earlier, I didn't see that you were just trying to help me." A horrible guilt was weighing him down ever since their argument.

"Jaune, I knew you were just frustrated, it happens to all of us every now and then," she smiled forgivingly, enjoying this moment where they are so close.

"So… Are we okay now?"

The giggled and replied as if it was a silly question, "Of course, although I thought we were the whole time."

"Really?" He asked in surprise and received a nod of approval from her. He stood there for a moment, still maintaining eye contact, admiring how accepting and forgiving his friends have been toward him. "Do you think maybe that… Your offer still stands? To help me become more accustomed to fighting people and to push me to improve?" He was afraid to ask this because he rudely refused her before. "The others already know about my issue and they're willing to—"

"Yes!" She interrupted with unrestrained joy that she quickly subdued, giving way to a more collected voice, "I would love to." She beamed brightly up at him.

He lurched forward, pulling the redhead into a tight embrace, "You're the best, Pyrrha!" The boy noticed none of the effects he had on her.

Her mouth hung open, shocked that this was happening. She was unfamiliar with this situation, not knowing if she should hug him back. She would be content with simply melting away in his warm hold right now. _This is even better than I imagined, a dream come true…_

Her eyelids shut as she let down her barriers, hugging him back, a loving smile became present on her lips, "Y-you owe me. After this and saving you, I think I deserve a reward." She had not imagined there was any way he could take her joke seriously. But of course, if there was a way to do something that seemed impossible, Jaune would find it.

The boy succeeded in making Pyrrha's world explode into fireworks by one nervous question, "H-how about I make it up to you, next Friday when we don't have classes?" She pulled her head back to look into his eyes, searching them to see if he was serious. All he did was crack a goofy smile.

 _Jaune, please tell me you were not joking…_

 **Well there we go. The most difficult part of this chapter was trying to figure out Ozpin's way of talking and storytelling, I hope that it wasn't too awful to read. Though I made sure to not forget his coffee. Never forget Ozpin's coffee.**

 **Thank you for reading and dropping all the follows and favorites on the story, you guys are amazing. And of course, thank you JMK2 for helping me out. Leave a review if you can, and want to tell me what you thought. I'll see you again in the next chapter.**


	7. First Steps

**Time for another chapter. After reading the chapter, if you can leave some feedback so that I know what you guys are thinking, then I'd really appreciate it.**

 **Also, if you like to write out challenges, then my co-author, JMK2, has come up with one that is pretty interesting. It's posted on both of our profiles, so if you read it and think that it's something that you might want to try out, contact JMK2 for more details.**

 **Thanks for reading and supporting the story! (I do not own RWBY)**

* * *

" _What do you fear, boy?"_

 _The condescending voice wisped gusts of wind that ripped through the realm, tearing everything in existence away, leaving colorlessness and something entirely different than the "boy" previously mentioned. A looming darkness had eclipsed the world, drowning it into a vast void of nothingness, the light that once radiated from him was now overshadowed by a grim shroud that made him feel alone… Forgotten…_

 _He knelt on what he imagined was ground, but it all looked the same to him. Pitch blackness. All color blotted out, leaving a shade of gloom over the entire realm. His head crooked downward, examining the dull grey color of his previously brown gloves. A feeling of pure hatred overcame him, consuming his old thoughts of friends, and replacing them with a determination. A corrupt drive, that transformed the knight into something he knew was not the real him. Not the true Jaune Arc._

 _The sinister woman remained unseen by her veil of darkness, questioning again, "What do you fear, White Knight?" Her voice burned into his mind, paining him deeply with every word._

 _She spoke of this thing as being the "White Knight". Yet the boy knew this form his mind possessed was not him, or the valiant knight. He felt its heart, it was stone cold, bloodthirsty. Barren of all love and care. It was wretched and repulsive. Empty of all that mattered in life…_

" _I fear nothing…" the wicked voice that came from "him" pulsed with dark energy. It was the type of voice that struck terror into the weak, making them cower in fear. Each syllable uttered in the tone charred his throat, "…My love."_

" _Then what is holding you back?" She challenged, maintaining a wicked smile._

 _It was as if the boy was simply a spectator through the eyes of this beast. He was held captive by it, forced to watch whatever it did. The boy's mind was in disarray, 'L-love?! What is this?!' The being's right arm reached to its hip, pulling a sword from the sheath. As it came into view, Jaune could see that it was what remained of his old sword, Crocea Mors. Now it had become infused with the same dreadful aura that this being retained. The cross guard was a worn gray, the handle a deep bloody maroon. The pure white blade was lost to time, replaced by a translucent obsidian. A tainted trickle of glowing red was seared into the sword, running down the middle of the blade and spanning from the tip to the hilt. The corrupt abomination raised the impure edge high above its head, as if preparing to strike._

 _The boy was lost on what the thing was aiming to hit. Only until a snowy gust of wind presented an innocent girl with a faint scar running down her left eye…_

" _J-Jaune, please… It's me, Weiss," the wintery girl sobbed, tears streaming down her pale white cheeks, "D-don't do this for her!" She sniffled, the whites of her eyes red from crying._

' _No… Weiss, this isn't me! Get out of here!' His thoughts would never reach her and his voice would never be heard. He had no control over this form._

 _With a single slash the girl was no more, her petite body crumpling to the ground, dead. Millennia seemed to pass until his lifeless friend faded, sinking into the dark matter, disappearing from sight._

 _He felt himself being released from the tortured shell of hate. His usual colors returned to his clothes and skin. An agonizing sensation stabbed through his wrenched heart, causing him to slacken his grip and let his sword descend into oblivion. 'That wasn't me… It wasn't me, I would never do that… Wasn't me…' His attempts to soothe his mind failed, making him sound more insane than ever. He covered his blue eyes as tears began to flow, making him unaware of the amber eyed figure inspecting him from the distance._

 _Her telepathic voice pierced into his head, making him feel as if his brain were melting, "All shining lights eventually burn out, Jaune. Sinking into the dark's embrace, uniting with their only chance." Her tone hardened and intimidated him as her amber eyes flicked furious flames outward from the sides, "Your fate has already been sealed." She sounded absolutely certain of this._

 _Jaune was unable to see his hidden tormentor. He felt as if the space around him was shrinking, the air inhaled became stuffy and moist. He thought that his lungs were beginning to fill with some sort of liquid, making it unable for him to breath. He reached out, as if trying to find something that might help his case, but what he touched sent chills straight to his core._

 _His fingers grazed a surface, then immediately yanked back, before reaching out to touch it again. He probed his hands all around him, walls closed him in on every side. Except they didn't remain in one place, they were closing in on him with every elapsing second._

 _He began to panic, trapped in a space that continued to shrink, with no hope of escaping. He thrust his hands out in front of him in an attempt to push the walls back, but it proved useless. A drop of something plopped on his nose, then he felt one on his head, and another few more fell on his arms. It began to stream down the walls, running over his pushing hands, the liquid's viscosity feeling thicker than water but not as sappy as syrup. Even more drops rained down in the room, pouring on the boy and pooling on the ground, soaking him in a horrid scent._

 _The knight realized what the fluid was as soon as the woman plagued him with her demented voice, "Their blood will be on your hands." His face instantly paled in disgust and the walls closed in further, restricting his movement completely. The bones in his arms cracked in excruciating pain as he cried out in pain._

 _This was his friends' pool of blood, and he was doomed to join them in death._

* * *

"He's fineee! It's just a nightmare!"

"Nora, this could be serious."

"I agree with Ren, this is unnatural, even for Jaune, who we know is not the most natural of individuals."

Jaune shifted in his bed, groaning and mumbling something they were unable to comprehend. "Is he ever gonna wake up? It's almost noon and we haven't had any breakfast!" The orange-haired girl complained, huffing as she played with Ren's ponytail mindlessly.

"You two go ahead, I'll watch over him," Pyrrha momentarily glanced away from the boy and at the two, "Just make sure to bring something back for him, and keep in mind his appetite." She gave them a semi-cheerful smile after mentioning the last part. Ren nodded silently and proceeded in leading Nora to the lunch room. Once the door had shut she turned her attention back to the blonde, worrying about what his nightmare contained. She sighed and sat at the foot of his bed, carefully avoiding his feet. _At least we have no classes, or else we would surely have been late._

The redhead's thoughts began to stray from worrying about the nightmare to other matters involving the knight. _I wonder if he ever dreams about me, maybe us two together, fighting side by side, always looking out for each other._ A blissful smile spread across her face as she mused over the boy, and then she remembered what tonight was. _I wonder where we will go for our date… Is it considered a date? He couldn't possibly see you in that way, Pyrrha, this is just his way of thanking me for saving him. Or maybe…_ She covered her eyes and the cute pink blush spread lightly across her soft cheeks, sighing gently in her anxiety. _I am not qualified for this sort of pressure. If this were just a simple combat match, I would be completely fine! Who would have ever thought my greatest difficulty would be found in teen romance?_

"Pyr, are you feeling okay?" The mentioned girl was startled by the sudden question; she was under the impression that nobody was paying attention to her at the moment. The blonde had apparently woken up from his nightmare, the curtain of hazy clouds in his mind breaking apart as he regained consciousness. And before even thinking of his own issues, he worried for the seemingly unsettled partner sitting on his bed. "You're looking a bit… _Red…?"_ He spoke the last word as if he were questioning what his eyes told him.

The tinted cheeks of the girl darkened even further from her embarrassment, "It's nothing, Jaune," the bewildered girl flicked her gaze up to meet his eyes, hoping that she was convincing enough to stop him. She suppressed her questions about the dreams, right now she was occupied with averting the boy from his observation. Then again, even if she did ask, he would most likely ramble off on a strange tangent to avoid answering.

He threw his blankets off of him and scooched his way to sit beside her, not more than a foot away from her side. "Come on, Pyrrha. You can't be upset on a day that we have a date!" He spoke enthusiastically, not hiding any of his cheer.

Her eyes sparkled with shock as she raised a tempted eyebrow at him, "D-date?" She couldn't believe her ears. _This isn't happening, this is…_

"Did I say date?" He gave off his awkward laugh, cursing his foolish unintentional word slip. The dense-minded boy Pyrrha spotted a blush beginning to rise on the boy, bringing an admiring smile to form on her lips. "I-I mean, we're just two normal people, going out on the town. Nothing special, it's not a date at all!"

She was unable to contain her sweet-sounding giggle with her hand. Her eyes shut for a couple moments as she worked to calm herself. When they finally opened, what the beauty's eyes took in brought the deepest of reds out on her cheeks. Jaune was now standing before her, in all his handsomeness, with not a single thread of his onesie on him. The only article clothing the blonde being his boxers. _How in the world is he this comfortable and careless around others?! What is wrong with him?!_ For the first time in her life she felt a strange burning desire growing deep inside of her.

A tiny and shameful part of Pyrrha's conscious told her that this was extremely wrong to feel this way about her partner, but the rest of her body was in favor of admiring the boy's features, and was also much more convincing. _What's wrong with me..._ She traced every bit of his body that was revealed to her, not wasting a second of this precious time to check her partner out. _He's so fit, so…_ Her body felt as if it were melting, just from the looks of this boy.

The girl was able to muster enough strength to break her eyes away from the boy, feeling shaken up and confused by her feelings. _Stop being ridiculous, get yourself together, Pyrrha._

He failed to catch his partner's attraction to him as he grabbed a change of clothes and made his way to the facilities. "Shower time!" He had to find some way to save him from his accident and avoid further embarrassment, so taking a shower was his best option. Peculiarly, being in such a state of undress in front of company had little to no effect on the boy. He loved the freedom of not being constricted by clothes.

Pyrrha sat there, unable to describe her peculiar feelings that were now dying down. The beautiful hue still tinged at her face. As soon as the water sprang to life in the bathroom, the door to their team's dorm flung open, nearly causing the spartan to leap out of her skin. Nora skipped happily into the room, noticing their leader's absence, "Where's Jauney?" She searched around for him, then her eyes focused on the redhead, her flustered blush to be specific. The orange-haired girl bubbled jovially, a sparkly smile on her face as she questioned, "What did we miss?!" Behind her Ren could be seen walking in empty-handed and panting, looking slightly disgruntled.

Pyrrha's rampant emotions cooled, leaving her to appear far less disheveled, "N-nothing!" She fidgeted around in her place, wishing that the topic would redirect to something else. That something else that would save her any more embarrassment happened to be Ren.

"I intended on bringing Jaune pancakes, but Nora…" He said heavily, not having to say any more to the nodding Pyrrha. She clearly pictured what had happened to the food that was meant for Jaune. Her face had now returned to her usual colors, not feeling as heated as she had been.

"You didn't miss anything, Jaune is only taking a shower." Pyrrha flashed a convincing smile to them, fooling the little ball of energy. Ren appeared to simply not care about the matter. He was still a bit ruffled after being crudely harassed by Nora for those pancakes.

"If you say so!" The girl lapped at a smudge of syrup above her top lip, giggling softly. "Soooo, what are you guys going to do today?"

Pyrrha smile widened, being reminded again of what this night with the knight would involve. "Oh, nothing special. Jaune and I are going to finish up our project for World History, then maybe I will try to spar with him if he is able to." She decided to keep the "date" a secret from them, not knowing if Jaune would want anyone to know yet. Her doubt was hidden, she was worried that her partner might not be able to fight her because of his problem with hurting friends, even though he wouldn't be truly hurting them.

The exuberant girl clasped her hands to her cheeks in horror, "Ren! We've barely even started our project!" Pyrrha swore she saw the girl's face pale to a dismal gray shade, but after blinking a couple times she believed it was simply her eyes playing tricks on her.

Ren sighed as he seated himself at his desk, opening a book issued for the project given by Professor Oobleck. He spoke in his indifferent tone, showing no emotion, "We might have finished earlier if you had not insisted on challenging other first year students to spar, rather than focusing on the main task at hand."

Nora looked at the boy as if he was completely absurd, like he was missing the point by a mile. "They thought they had a chance…" The girl's expression shifted to an evil smile, "How cute…"

Her partner cracked smile. Nobody, not even Ren, could resist being amused by the crazy girl. "I could use a little help, Nora." She followed up on his request in seconds, hopping over to him and pulling a chair over to sit beside him.

Pyrrha laughed outwardly at the hilarious girl, not holding much back, only feeling a slight bit of pity for Ren. The door to the bathroom swung open, revealing Jaune, dressed in his usual attire. "Hey guys!" He addressed the other two members of his team who waved casually in reply, Ren was focused and Nora also surprisingly appeared to be. He then turned to Pyrrha, "Ready for the library?" She nodded and noticed his mood after asking the question. He obviously was not looking forward to doing their schoolwork. _On the bright side, at least we are just finishing up. Perhaps I may be able to find a way to make this less boring for him._

As the two left their room on a course to the library with their books, Pyrrha tried with all of her power to brainstorm some ideas to make this dull session more interesting for the boy. But a nagging thought kept coming back into mind, distracting her from her goal. She was reluctant to ask the boy what he had dreamt of. Mostly due to a fear of what he would say, and because that would be an awkward sort of question to ask. After she waged an internal debate on what she should do, the girl overcame her unwillingness and asked curiously, "Jaune, what was your nightmare about?" She paused to ensure that her voice would remain smooth and soft, "You seemed to be experiencing something serious," her worried gaze fixed on her feet as she walked with him.

He wore a goofy smile on his face while saying in an easy-going tone, "It was nothing to worry about, Pyr." But he knew very well that it was definitely a worrying matter, though he refused to cause his friends to have any more concern for his sake. He reassured her, "Trust me, it's fine." His partner perceived past the lie, frowning to herself. She had a sneaking suspicion that this was indeed a much more serious matter than he gave off. _Hopefully I will be able to get him to open up later tonight._

By entering the silent library, Pyrrha refrained from badgering him further on the situation. The still room was conveniently mostly vacant, except for a blonde located in a distant aisle of bookshelves and a black-haired girl huddled in a secluded corner, her face buried in a book. It was nice to have less people there so that the two would not have to worry about any distractions. At least that's what they first assumed.

Jaune gently set his books down on a long wooden desk that had two chairs and a single desktop computer. Pyrrha followed suit in doing so, sitting down in front of the computer and watching its green screen come to life after pressing the power button. She whispered as to keep the volume of the quiet environment to a minimal, "I'll get to work here, would you please look for _Lost Accounts of the Great War, Volume III?_ " The girl spoke while confirming the title through her notes, just to be certain it was the correct resource, "It isn't crucial, yet it might be precisely what we need to improve our report from decent, to excellent." A hopeful smile crossed her lips,

He nodded quickly, pleasantly saying, "Sure thing." He strolled off confidently, determined to contribute on the project, but having no clue where he was supposed to find the book required.

He searched each row of books until his brain hurt from all of the useless titles. His face was pulled down into wearied stare as he continued to scan through the shelves. _Stupid library. Why wouldn't they just make some sort of sign that says, "All dumb books of research located in this dumb area!" They could at least put it in alphab—_

"Oof!" The aggravated boy grunted as he collided with someone. He was too busy ridiculing the library to be aware of another person nearby, causing him to knock the blonde girl in a school uniform over and the books out of her arms. She was now staring directly up at him, her fearful _violet_ eyes locking in on his shocked blue orbs. A drowsiness came over him, one that made his thoughts misty and unfocused. He brought a hand to his head, holding his temple as he stumbled and leaned against a bookshelf, hoping this feeling would blow over. "W-wh…whaa…" He had issues concentrating enough to form any sort of word, his mind was too stunned to react to do anything. He attempted to reach out and grab a hold of the girl, but his arms felt like they were falling asleep like the rest of his body.

The blonde clumsily collected most of her books before hurrying off, accidently forgetting one of thick book, the only one that she actually needed. She feared that if she hadn't done anything to the boy, then he would have easily tailed and caught her. Her thoughts were spot on of course. Unfortunately, due to her rush she overlooked the main objective, and she would surely pay for it…

It was clear Jaune that the girl was completely terrified of him for some reason, scared enough to run away in such a hurry to escape him.

Once she was out of range of the boy, Jaune felt the release of her effects, now he was much like his normal self, however a tad sleepier than usual. "What…" He was at a loss of words, not knowing what in the world was wrong with her. Though now he was certain that the cause of his horrifying dreams and his disoriented feelings came from her. Yet despite her tormenting of him, she is still frightened of the boy. _It doesn't make sense; why would such a powerful girl target me this way? She's capable of manipulating my mind almost completely, without me being able to fight it! Why would she just run every time I see her if she could easily beat me?_ Jaune knew that something wasn't right about this situation, at all. He _despised_ whatever was going on.

Then his attention was pulled to the only book that the girl had left behind. It was flipped to a page already, seventy-seven to be exact. He knelt by it and marked the page with his finger, flipping back to the cover to read the title. _World of Remnant: Legends. What in the world would… She… No… Of course!_ Then it dawned on him, multiple gears starting up in his head as he put the two and two together, he understood. He flipped back to the page that was left open by the girl, now paying attention to the header of the page, "Transcendence of Color". _How does she know of this?_

He skimmed through the story, already being decently familiar with it since Ozpin told him most of the events it contained. A small amount of drawn pictures were illustrated in the margins of the page, depicting the legendary leader slaying the greatest of Grimm. Along his side Jaune presumed were his friends or possibly soldiers that fought against the monsters with him.

At the end of the tale was when his interest started to peak, it told of some things that Ozpin had not let him know of. _Ok so whoever wrote this believes that one of these guys exist at a time. They're able to alter the Aura of allies. Well that could mean just about anything._

Jaune scoured the page until coming upon a sentence that sent chills down his spine. _'Only a single being is powerful enough to break down and bring these heroes to their knees: The Amb—_ The page was torn, severing the rest of the paragraph. He blinked repeatedly, not wanting to believe that the warning was cut off there. _This could be really bad._ His first guess of the interrupted word was that it read "amber". And the only noticeably amber things he knew were Blake's beautiful eyes and the dream woman who constantly tortures him. _There's no way that this could be talking about Blake, so I'm going to have to say it's warning me of the dream lady. And since this whole tale of the transcendence seems to be true up to this point, then I am going to take a shot in the dark and say that the lady is real also. But that would mean she is thousands of years old, or…_

The boy's ears perked up when he heard small patters, signaling that someone was approaching him. He had no plans of letting anyone else discover this, and he was not absolutely sure who it was coming to this aisle. In a mad scramble, Jaune slammed the hardback shut, bringing a cloud of dust into the air, and then he crammed the age old book into the shelve, believing that he could come to reclaim it later. All in time for Blake to round the corner.

"H-hey Blake!" He called out franticly, breaking the peaceful atmosphere of the study. She was instantly aware that her friend was acting strangely.

"Shh! Do you want to get us kicked out?" Her scolding hiss was near silent, accompanied by a modest smile that let him know she was joking.

As she approached Jaune, he scratched his wrist nervously and whispered back with a little disappointment in himself, "R-right, sorry." He went ahead and tried to start up a casual conversation to settle her if she was suspicious, "Soo, Blake, what are you doing in the library on a day like this?"

"Yang and I finished up our project the other day, so I chose to come here to read instead of listening to Weiss and Ruby work on theirs." She realized her book's title was visible so she immediately hugged it to her chest defensively, covering it with her arms.

Her reaction was too late though, he had already taken note of the name before she hid it. He raised an eyebrow, " _Ninjas of Love?_ " An uncomfortable feeling overcame him as the blood rushed to his cheeks, the boy had actually recognized what the book was.

Having seven sisters, Jaune had come across these sorts of embarrassing things before. The sibling that had taken a liking to this particular series was Jade, his eldest sister whose twin was Azura. Though he never brought up to his sister that he had discovered this due to a fear that it would have started a rather awkward conversation. "What are you doing with that sort of book?"

Her alert gaze flicked from place to place, looking anywhere but at the boy, "I-I don't know what you're talking about!" The furious red blush seeping from her pale face told him otherwise.

Jaune could see that he put her in an awkward situation, but was genuinely curious on what she was doing with a mature book as such. "Blake, I just saw it," he pointed out with a frank tone.

The flustered girl crumbled with the knowledge that his teasing would never cease unless she fessed up. "It's just something that I have taken a liking to lately, but that's none of your business," she narrowed her eyes and threatened, "And if you tell anyone, I promise you will regret it."

He thought it would be fun to mess with her, so he grinned smugly while teasing the girl, "What are you gonna do, Blakey? Hit me with one of your sappy romances?" He snickered at his harmless joke, feeling clever for once.

Her amber eyes took a different approach at convincing him by beseeching his blues, "Please, Jaune, don't tell…" The mad redness adorned on her cheeks now gave way to a cute pink blush that appealed to his softer side, making him smile softly in reply to her worried pout.

"Of course I won't tell; I was only kidding. I promise," he patted her shoulder and reassured, "An Arc never goes back on their word."

"There you are!" A loud whisper broke the two's talk apart. They both whirled to look at who had called out to them and saw that the source was a redheaded spartan.

Blake puffed out a tiny sigh to herself, not glad to be interrupted at a time like this. _Well, there goes my opportunity of bringing up Adam to Jaune._ She had been patiently waiting for the perfect chance to bring the discussion of her old mentor up. And after this ruined chance, it would have to be push back yet again.

His partner quickly paced over to the two friends, looking a little irritated for a reason Jaune already knew. "I managed to finish without that book, what have you been doing this whole time?" She put her hands on her hips as she interrogated the boy.

He sheepishly frowned and craned his neck downward. Her aggravation was well justified, even Jaune couldn't deny that. She had worked on the rest of their paper alone while he was off talking to girls. "I'm sorry, I guess I just got a bit distracted," he wasn't about to bring up the blonde or the book while Blake was around. If Ozpin had not insisted that he kept his abilities a secret, then he most likely would have already opened up to his friends. But for now they would have to be left uninformed. The dreams, the violet-eyed girl, his abilities, all of these secrets just kept piling on, placing more weight on his shoulders with each one he concealed.

"With?" She looked slightly less annoyed than she had been.

"Nothing…"

Blake rolled her eyes and she flashed Jaune a smile that only he picked up on, then quickly turned to address his partner with her natural plain expression, "He was sidetracked by helping me find a book. It was my fault for requesting he searched with me, I'm sorry." _Oh, he owes me for bailing him out like this._

Pyrrha would have been lying if she said she wasn't surprised; she had not expected Blake to come out directly saying that. Then again, those two have been through quite a lot in the past, it would make sense for them to look out for each other. She dismissed any negative feelings she had, smiling forgivingly at the girl, "That's fine, I understand." The redhead crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her gaze to the boy, "And I guess you can get by this time, but don't expect me to always work without your assistance."

A sudden roar bellowed through the air to the ears of the partners. The last place they imagined it to come from was Blake's empty stomach. The jaws of Jaune and Pyrrha dropped in shock of how such a disruptive noise could be produced by the composed girl. The suspect of the grumble was holding her book tightly against her stomach, now showing an embarrassed look. "H-how about an early lunch?"

* * *

A meal in the Beacon lunchroom was always delightful and never dull for teams RWBY and JNPR. Ruby's team sat directly across from Jaune's. She was opposite of him, Yang faced Pyrrha, Blake across from Ren, and Weiss was in front of Nora. And out of both teams, the only ones left eating were Jaune, Nora, and Blake. If there had been classes for them, then they would have stopped a while ago. But since there were none, the three took this perfect opportunity to stuff their faces until being unable to continue in doing so. The others had been full for almost a half hour. Thankfully, there was plenty of entertainment for them with Ruby in their presence.

Jaune sank his teeth into his gigantic meaty sandwich, zoning in on his meal as Ruby asked yet another question, "Soo how is everyone spending their lovely Friday?" She was leaning her elbows on the table and using them to prop her head up, a childish smile on her face.

" _We_ are finishing our paper for Professor Oobleck, so don't even think of getting any of your crazy ideas," Weiss answered bitterly, her sour pout aimed down the table at the reaper.

Ruby giggled innocently, "Oh! Almost forgot," she smiled at her partner for reminding her, "Who else is working on their projects tonight?" Her hand along with Nora's shot high in the air like launching rockets, while Ren and Weiss groaned and raised theirs slowly. Yang beamed proudly, Blake had demanded they deal with that early in order to have more time for other activities later on. Now, that work was paying off.

The blonde girl bragged, "Heh, since all of us were responsible enough to do our homework early, after lunch Blake, Pyrrha, and I are get a chance to beat Vomit-Boy up." The impish grin showed how much she was looking forward to it. She cracked her knuckles slowly, enjoying the relief it allowed for her brawling fists.

"I think that she means we are going to attempt to spar with him," Pyrrha corrected with a small laugh.

Jaune was too absorbed in his delicious sandwich to hear what Yang had said, but he definitely heard what his partner said from right next him. And when he realized what was going on, he choked on the food that was going down his throat, drawing the eyes of all his friends onto him.

It took a brief moment for him to recover the ability to speak, and when he had, he blurted out, "I don't remember agreeing to this! I thought Pyrrha and I were just going to have a night out down in Vale!" By the time he realized his mistake, it was too late for the boy to save himself.

"W-what?" Weiss whimpered, a look of utter heartbreak dampening her appearance. Blake stopped eating right after hearing about the two's plans to go out tonight. She blankly stared at her food, not having the courage to speak up like Weiss.

Nora didn't seem to notice the moods of the two girls as yet another pancake was slurped down her throat in a single gulp. She then squealed in eagerness for her teammates, "Yes! I knew it, I told you Ren! They're totally going to be together-together!" She turned to the black-haired boy and softly punched his shoulder, resulting in him simply shaking his head in disagreement. He nodded toward Weiss and Blake who were sitting next to each other across from himself and Nora, silently saying this was not the time.

Ruby and Yang were aware of their teammates feelings for Jaune, however they didn't know the magnitude of their affection. The sisters merely thought of it as a little crush, that would most likely blow over by the time of graduation, keeping the group of friends as just that: friends.

Even if the two were not always the most outright with their fondness for the boy, their hidden hints gave them away. Plus, rooming together has helped them all become more familiar with each other. The upbeat attitudes of the sisters receded as they shared a sympathetic look for their upset teammates.

Jaune looked taken off guard by Weiss's reaction, "We're just hanging out, no big deal." He shrugged while his partner modestly smiled, feeling grateful to finally spend some alone time with the blonde.

The knight was literally the only person in the world to think that this was, 'No big deal.' Jaune was going out, on a _date_ , with _Pyrrha Nikos. THE Pyrrha Nikos_ , four-time tournament champion of Mistral and the Untouchable Girl.

Weiss felt like her heart had been ripped in two. Her jealousy momentarily leaving her unable to speak, she wasn't even able to look at him. The knight who had been her friend for so long, _her_ knight. Now wasn't _hers_ anymore. _Dolt, I should have just told him a long time ago…_ The heiress hated herself, believing that this was her fault for not acting quicker

"Hey, Ren, I think we should probably go get started," Nora suggested, sounding shaky and uneasy. She didn't wait for him to answer before grabbing his arm and yanking him toward the exit.

"R-right, h-have fun training," Weiss said in a feeble tone, burying her tears until she could be all alone. She stood up from the group and left through the same exit that Ren and Nora had, Ruby tailed closely after her in a flurry of rose petals. The heiress had a gut-wrenching feeling in her stomach, she didn't want to do anything, or talk to anyone.

The icy girl held back the tears as she quickly staggered back to her room. _Why does it hurt so horribly?_ Her fears of being left alone were growing in from the depths of her mind, this was the way she had felt in the past when her father would shove her to the side, ignoring her to focus on the principal family business. The rare occasions where he actually wanted to be around her were when he needed somebody to release anger out on. And those occasions were not exactly the most joyous of times.

Her sister, Winter, had done her best to always support the youngest Schnee, but even she had more important matters to tend to, making it increasingly difficult for her to always be there as time went on. And eventually, Winter became too caught up in her affairs to be home when Weiss needed it. She had felt like the loneliest of all, until befriending a certain knight who brightened up her world…

Now the emotional pain of believing she would lose the boy made her feel as if someone had run her through with a seething hot blade. And she knew _exactly_ what that was like.

Once she flung open the door for her team's room and before entering, a red blur flashed past her. There was no doubt in her mind of who it was. _Ughh why did she have to follow me?_

Weiss walked unusually through the doorway. Her formal posture had declined, leaving her shoulders slouched and her tiny boots dragging against the ground. She threw herself on her bed, facing the ceiling. The door slammed shut with a loud clap, revealing Ruby who had previously been hidden behind it.

"What's up?" She chirped in a calmer manner than her norm, while heading to her partners bed and sitting by her. The redhead looked down into Weiss's wintery orbs, willing to do anything to cheer her up.

Weiss laid there. Blinking once, not speaking to her leader or looking in her direction. She was too busy wishing that she was in Pyrrha's place, being able to go on a date with Jaune.

A small voice inside of her head questioned, _do I really want to be with him in that way?_ She could easily go find a random guy that would be ecstatic to talk to her. But Jaune was just so sweet, compassionate, goofy, and so much could ever possibly be compared to the boy. _He's perfect._ She nodded to herself, answering her mental question and making Ruby concerned for her sanity.

"You okay, Weiss?" The redhead lolled her head to the side and sounded sincerely worried about her partner. It was a shock to her that the heiress had not yet kicked her from the bed. If any other time Ruby tried something like this, she would suffer a scolding from her partner.

Weiss turned her head to meet Ruby's silver eyes, a tear running down her pale cheeks. This was the first time Ruby saw her crying, and it wasn't over getting injured or receiving a lousy grade. It was over a _boy_. _Woah, so Jaune must be really special to her…_

The leader spun herself around so that she was kneeling next to her partner. Then she leaned in close, hugging the cold girl comfortingly, knowing that this was what her friend needed. Weiss didn't hesitate for a second before returning the embrace, the salty drops slowly trickling from her eyes, wetting Ruby's jacket.

The heiress was barely audible, "I don't want to lose him," her voice trembled weakly and she clung tighter to the reaper.

"You know that would never happen, Jaune's not the type to forget about his friends," Ruby did her best to soothe the depressed girl. "Plus, you guys have known each other for ages, through thick and thin, always standing by each other." The redhead pulled away, making eye contact with Weiss and sending her a sweet smile, "You two have a beautiful relationship, one that makes others full of envy!" She couldn't help giggling after saying the last part.

"Y-you really think so?" Her cold eyes seemed to soften, as if snow now instead of ice.

"Yep!" Ruby hopped off of the bed and smiled confidently at her teammate, "No matter how this all goes down, I promise it'll be just fine. That's how it always is with Jaune!"

Weiss situated herself to sit on the edge of her bed. After mulling the girl's words over, she smiled slightly in relief. _She's not wrong, he does do his best to please everyone in front of himself._

Her admitting thoughts were cut out by a high-pitched squeal from Ruby, "Now, this paper isn't gonna write itself!"

The heiress never expected to have a gigantic book hurled at her, knocking her over so that she sprawled on the bed with it on her chest. _She's lucky that she just helped me out._ A warm smile creeped on her face as she sat up, already plotting her revenge on the hyper redhead.

* * *

"Jaune, I know you can do this!" Pyrrha encouraged him, after offering a hand to help him regain his footing on the rooftop of the dorms. Immediately upon standing he hunched over to place his hands on his knees, panting heavily. Another match had ended, leaving Pyrrha victorious, and Jaune breathless in the dust. The two had been going at it for almost an hour now, with not an inch of progress on the knight's part. He refused to even take a swing at the spartan. Nothing Pyrrha or Yang did to persuade him helped, he would only continue to remain passive against his partner.

Yang stood a distance away from the two, shaking her head and crossing her arms, her brow furrowed in frustration. _Why can't he just do it?! It's not that complicated!_ Her fists were clenched; she was going to lose it if the boy didn't do something already.

Blake sat alone on the edge of the rooftop, avoiding the other three. She hadn't said a word to anyone since lunch, she even ignored her partner's efforts that were meant to be soothing.

It hurt that the first friend that Blake ever had, and the first boy that she had ever been lightly romantically interested in, was now going off on a date with a girl that he just met. Blake had no hard feelings for the girl, she actually thought that the redhead was one of the most genuinely kind people that she had ever met. However, due to some unknown luck that Pyrrha had, she managed to get a date with the sweet knight. And that meant that Blake would most likely be forgotten.

For once, someone else would leave her behind instead of her leaving them. Now she knew how it felt to be on the other side. It was awful, making her feel alone and depressed. She hated the feeling, but wishing it away was not going to rid her of the sorrow. _I'll just have to get over it, like I always do._

Jaune groaned with lost hope, knowing this was useless. He would never be able to compete with them; it was impossible for him to intentionally do anything that could potentially harm his friends. He straightened his form, breathing steadily now, he complained, "Come on guys, this is pointless and you know it, I have no hope here." He bent back over to pick his sword and shield up since he dropped them in his last fight.

Pyrrha frowned, she wanted her partner to believe in himself already. He was always cutting his spirits down, thinking that he was less than he truly was. _Everyone else can see it, why is he not able to?_ She turned her back to him, walking slowly in the direction of Yang, who had seemed to perk up when seeing this.

When the spartan reached the blonde girl, she faced her, green eyes meeting lilac, the air around the rooftop was thrown into pure silence. A mute nod directed toward Yang was the only signal needed to convey the unknown message. As the sign was received, it was returned with a similar soundless tip of the head.

 _I wish it had not come to this, but this might be the only way…_ Pyrrha took her place standing beside the girl, biting her lip to the point of almost drawing blood, sighing, fearing for the unsuspecting boy. She had an iron-tight hold on her left arm, thinking that this might be a mistake.

Yang broke the redhead's train of thought by cracking her knuckles roughly, she wore a face of pure enjoyment for what was to come. A glint of red flickered through her lilac orbs as she strutted leisurely a couple steps forwards, swaying her hips slightly and flicking her luscious hair back. She acted deliberately, as if preparing to put on a show.

The beauty stopped nearing the boy when only about twenty yards separated the two, Jaune looked utterly confused as he stammered, "W-what's going on, Yang?"

"Shh, it'll be over soon," the beautiful blonde gave one of her magical winks, the kind that made normal boys drop in desire for her. But this wink only caused his blood to turn cold, terrified of what is about to happen. The scene had been intriguing enough to draw Blake to Pyrrha's side, spectating the coming battle.

Jaune shook in his shoes and gulped, "W-what?!"

His only answer came in the mechanical pangs of the brawler's bracelets shifting into their true form, yellow gauntlets, ringed in menacing red shotgun shells. She threw her arms back to send a starting blast from each hand at the ground, propelling her through the air at the boy, letting out a fierce war cry along with a few more shots to increase her speed.

The knight's eyes shot open at this, this girl was not planning on stopping. She was going to pummel him. And she was going to enjoy it. She raised her arm to hit him as he raised his shield to block, absorbing a bone-crushing punch into the metal that shot shocks of pain through his entire arm, leaving it with a horrible tingling initial punch was followed by many more. Each blow contained a shotgun blast that provided supplemental power, all of them were delivered directly into his shield.

A final punch to the same spot left the knight's arm numb and it fell limply by his side, his shield dropped to the cold surface with an irony clang. The strength in the limb was no longer sufficient to block, he wouldn't be able to hide behind his ward for the time being. He would be forced to fight, or else he would be battered to a pulp.

This fight was far different from the ones with Pyrrha. His partner had been gentle enough to not damage his Aura substantially, yet Yang could not care less about the pain she inflicted. He felt weak, he backed away, hoping to be spared, "Y-Yang, th-this isn't funny!"

She answered him silently with a mad grin, setting her arms into a fighting position. This girl was determined to break him, as if it had been the plan all along, for her to push him until he must fight to protect himself. She would have no mercy.

The two bystanders were unable to do what Yang could, for they were already too attached to Jaune to hurt him themselves. Blake almost had to turn in order to avoid the pain of watching her best friend get hurt, but her eyes were glued to the scene, wanting to see how this would pan out. Pyrrha's eyes were fixed on the knight, trying to read what he would do next, except her green orbs were not the only ones of that color observing over the contenders...

The three girls had reluctantly planned this out while Jaune was gearing up for their training. If Jaune would not fight them, then they would be forced to release Yang on him, who would be more than thrilled to take on such a huge role in the situation. She never turned down a good fight, assuming that Jaune would actually be retaliating for this one. In addition to her willingness to challenge the boy, her Semblance would aid her to not let up. Unless of course, if she was coming close to killing the boy.

Jaune realized that she was not stopping, that he must do something to protect himself. The pause in combat allowed for him to catch his breath and ready his weapon, his left arm had regained most of the feeling in it. He shook it off and stretched it in the downtime that the girl was allowing for some reason. For a quick second he contemplated the predicament he had gotten into, then he clenched his jaw in defiance, hardening his gaze on this very real threat before him. On the _opponent._

She charged at him once again, ready to resume her furious flurry of punches. But this time, he charged back toward her with both hands gripping Crocea Mors tightly, ready to strike.

Yang saw that he was going to slash downward at her. Since she was not allowed enough time to dodge and she detested the idea of losing an arm, she lifted her arms, repelling the sword by barring her yellow gauntlets above her head. He pushed with the entirety of his might down on her arms, causing her to struggle under the pressure. His recently numb arm twitching terribly, but he ignored the pain, for it would only be temporary. It was as if a flame had ignited inside of the boy, guiding him to attack Yang even though she was an ally.

Their eyes locked, a deadly stare down taking place as the knight pushed her defending gauntlets closer to her head. He knew that he was not going to hurt her, he only needed to lower her Aura to the point of which she is unable to endure. Though the knight was unaware that this was the exact key to sparring: not truly hurting the opponent, just weakening them to a specific point where the training round would then be ended.

The brawler was in a sticky situation; she couldn't let her guard down or make any sort of movement without suffering a hit. And she was losing this battle of sheer force, her power was draining every second she pushed against the oncoming blade. She grimaced in strain, feeling like her arms would give out any moment. Jaune realized the affliction he heaved upon her, feeling an awful regret that brought him to offer mercy and pull back slightly.

Just as he eased up, she triggered her Semblance. Her once lilac eyes became eclipsed in a blood red in a flash, her hair sparking into flickering torches at the tips. Jaune could feel the atmosphere between the two heating up. Literally. Before he knew what was happening, he was blown back by a ripple of flames that exploded from the brawler's body.

He was thrown across the rooftop, inches from the edge and dangerously close to falling off. Yet the boy had could spare no time to fret about mere heights, he was too concentrated on surviving the wrath of this unstoppable dragon princess as he picked himself up off the ground. Jaune spotted his shield nearby, like it had appeared out of nowhere. He instantly grabbed it and wielded it in his weak left arm.

An unending barrage of flaming rounds were sent at him from Yang's gauntlets, coming at him relentlessly. That was how she met such great success while fighting. She overwhelmed her opponent with great force, not letting up for second, unceasingly beating them down until they fell.

Jaune's marks on his right shoulder and abdomen began to glow faintly, brought to life as a reminder to prevail despite the odds being stacked against him. He deeply exhaled to calm his mind in the split second that he was allotted. He closed the gap between them as he skillfully slashed at each bullet with blinding speed, swiftly deflecting them. His rapid movements were almost too quick for the human eye to process. His trusty blade only missed the last few, but those unaccounted for were received by his shield, staggering him back to the edge. The muscles in his blocking arm felt like they were going to tear any minute and his shoulder would not serve him for much longer.

A sheet of smoke began to rise above their heads as a result of Yang repeatedly firing her dual shotguns. The two known onlookers who stood on the sideline of the match had dropped their jaws in awe, not knowing how this knight was so expertly gifted with that sword, competent enough to block the powerful rounds with ease while doing so in unbelievable speeds. Yang couldn't even deny that she was impressed by it.

Jaune sprinted at her, unscathed by the previous volley thrown at him. He was determined to succeed in protecting himself. His blue eyes expressed no fear of whatever was to come, only courage.

As he came within punching range, Yang was only able to send two quick shots from each gauntlet directly into his shield, which he powered through with all his might, forcefully bashing the girl's head with the center of his shield. The girl was fairly rattled, however not stunned enough to spurn her from jabbing him powerfully in the gut, followed up with another that was led chased by flames. He was half blown back and half forced to retreat to a greater distance, keeping in mind to stay away from the building's edge. His shield was held tightly to his stomach. His face scrunched from the brawling bee's sting, he couldn't hold on for much longer. As if a convenient warning of this, his Aura pulsed once weakly.

"Y-Yang… Enough…" He sputtered out breathlessly, it was obvious that talking had become significantly more difficult task after that last hit.

She smiled innocently, "Heh." The single laugh was more than enough to intimidate the boy thoroughly. _Nobody touches this head, or hair, without my permission._ She had not yet forgiven him for bashing her skull, and she wasn't giving up until revenge was exacted. _He'll be fine. Probably._

The blonde beauty sprinted at him, transforming into a streak of fiery orange and yellow. Jaune gulped, _I am so dead._

" _Ms. Xiao Long!_ " All four students instantly froze at the sound of the professor's voice.

Jaune let a breath out in relief from being saved. At least he assumed that he should feel relieved by the intervening teacher. Glynda walked briskly toward the students, her heels clacking sharply against the ground.

It finally struck Yang of how badly she had injured Jaune. Her eyes calmed back from red to her usual lilac, widening in utter terror, " _Jaune!"_ She bolted to the breathless knight, disregarding the strict newcomer. Her face was paled in horror, terrified of what she had done to Jaune, an amateur sparring partner. The girl clearly heard the steps of two approaching people, which she correctly assumed were Blake and Pyrrha.

 _Bad idea Jaune. Bad. Idea._ His head was throbbing, his whole body hurt, especially his left arm. _Hey, but at least you did it._ He couldn't help feeling a bit of pride in himself for the achievement. _Just... Remember: never mess with Yang._ He collapsed his shield before using it as a sheath for his sword, attaching it to his side. He raised his right arm to his head and rubbed the back of it softly, hoping that it might heal him or something. It sadly didn't have any noticeable effect on his status. Yet he could already feel his Aura beginning to regenerate slowly, soon he would be perfectly fine.

A soft voice erupted from the boy's throat, "It's all good…" He coughed a couple times, tasting a tad of blood. He met Yang's caring and lush lilac orbs, "D-did I do okay?"

Blake and Pyrrha backed away a couple steps to stand in front of the two blondes, getting a good look at how beaten Jaune was after the fight, and how fine Yang came out. Glynda stood idly by, her hip cocked the side and her arms crossed, intently examining how the girls interacted with Jaune. All of the girls were too focused on Jaune to pay any attention to her.

The boy began to feel dizzy so he partially extended his arms to balance himself out, but at the first sign of his unsteadiness, Yang decided to throw her left arm under his right and she pulled his arm to wrap it around the back of her neck. He definitely would have greeted the ground once again if not for her assistance. Pyrrha answered with a sulk, feeling guilty for letting all of this happen, "You did excellent, Jaune."

He caught on, believing she was worried, "I'll be fine Pyr, I always am. I've been through worse, anyways," he smiled loftily, his mind still jumbling. His partner seemed at least a little delighted by hearing what he said, though Blake remained silent and distraught, going unnoticed by the boy.

"That's one way to take out my anger…" Yang joked with him wishing to brighten the mood, recalling his offer from the other week. She discovered a way to switch the subject and gained an appreciative smile, one that showed respect for the goof, "How did you block all of my shots like that, anyways?" She sounded to be impressed and curious of how he had pulled that off.

He gave a tiny smirk in satisfaction, "A lot of luck, and a lot of practice with my dad." The boy thought back to the practices he spent with the man before his death, and he particularly remembered the tedious day on which his father taught him to fend off bullets without relying entirely on his shield. That was quite a stressful day for the both of them, yet nonetheless a good one. It brought a tear of joy to his eye to recall one of the positive memories of his lost father. Fragments of the past that he would never forget, and cherish for eternity.

Glynda remained silent as a sarcastic thought popped into her head, _I doubt that his gifts had anything to do with that skill..._

Pyrrha mistook the tear of joy for one of pain. She placed her hand lightly on Jaune's chest, not pushing too heavily in fear that it might worsen his shape. "Are you certain that you're alright?" Blake's sympathetic eyes asked the same question, only in her own silent manner.

"Yeah, but maybe our night should be put on hold until tomorrow…" He brushed off the worry of the girls and shook the single tear that ran down his cheek off, feeling touched by the amount they care for him.

"That seems appropriate, considering you and Ms. Xiao Long will be attending detention this evening." The four students jumped in shock, completely forgetting about the professor in their midst. Glynda had determined that now it was her turn, "Next time you two decide to organize a disruptive fight like this, I recommend doing so in the true combat arena _during proper hours_." The great booms of Yang's gauntlets had been what tipped the teacher off in the first place, giving them all away.

The two blondes winced from the scorn, feeling as if they were just lashed with words rather than a weapon. Pyrrha took a step forward, "But M—," was all she had a chance to let out before being cut off.

"I will hear none of it, Ms. Nikos," her flaming glare was thrown to the spartan, an expression of disappointment was not at all concealed on her features. "I expected you especially, being such a highly esteemed student, to know better than to be so thoughtless. You were _all_ irresponsible, and cases like this will not be tolerated here at Beacon. You could have been seriously injured," as she spoke the last part she sounded a tad softer and focused on Jaune, who actually was decently injured, and leaning on Yang for support

Pyrrha bowed her head in shame, retreating back to the sides of her friends and agreeing internally that someone, most likely Jaune, could have gotten hurt. Blake had a plain expression, not even glancing at the stern woman.

"You both are excused," she dismissed the two not involved in the fight. "Ms. Xiao Long, Mr. Arc, please come with me," she turned with her hands now behind her back, one wrist held in the other as she led the two students at fault off to their punishment.

 _I finally fight back, and I get punished for it. Maybe it's a sign that I shouldn't try this again._

* * *

 **And with that, another chapter down. Don't forget to leave some feedback to let me know what you're thinking about the story so far, and check out JMK2's challenge on my profile, along with his.**


	8. Flustered Feelings

**Sorry it's been a while. Here's another chapter, thank you for waiting a longer time for it. If you can, leave some feedback in a review.**

 **(I do not own RWBY at all)**

* * *

The three blondes stepped off of the elevator, entering a dark room somewhere below Ozpin's in Beacon's tower. Dim green lights gradually illuminated as they came in, growing brighter every second until they bathed the entire room in the cool rays. The room resembled the headmaster's almost exactly. Same desk, same amount of black metallic chairs, and same eerie atmosphere. The only components it lacked were all of the windows that granted a view of the lower grounds. In their place were plain black walls that blocked out all outside light, making the entire room look dull. Which seemed fitting, keeping in mind the woman's reserved and stoic nature.

Glynda walked over to stand behind her desk, not bothering to sit down in her chair. She crossed her arms over her chest then tilted her head down to inspect the two with a harsh glare, making the both of them avert their eyes from her in discomfort.

Yang felt Jaune's grip around her shoulder tense, unintentionally showing that he was far more nervous than her. This was the second time that he had run into trouble with the professors, they might not be as lenient as they were the first time. The two remained at the entrance of the room, Yang still holding Jaune up, both of them feeling as if they would collapse from their exhausted Auras.

"Please, take a seat," Glynda ordered in a neutral tone, not abiding to her own instructions in sitting. She preferred to always be at attention and aware, not letting her guard down for even a second.

The teens wasted no time in heading her command, neither wanted to aggravate the woman any further than she was at this point. Yang led Jaune to the chair toward their left, carefully assisting him in lowering him down. His left arm hadn't yet healed completely, making it a difficult task for him to try putting any weight on it in the process of sitting. After situating the boy, Yang took her place to his right by heavily plopping down in the chair, letting out a weary expulsion of breath in doing so.

"May I ask what exactly you two were doing?"

Jaune turned to Yang right as she turned to him, both of them hoping that the other would answer. The boy's eyes begged for her to do the talking, but the irresistible lilac look Yang held was undeniable.

He tipped his head to her, giving in to her plea, then shifted his timid gaze to the professor. He avoided direct eye contact, but managed to look in the general direction of her. "We were trying to find a way to convince me to fight. When I refused, they took a different approach by sending Yang at me." Jaune's hands were fumbled shakily on top of the glass table, his panicking eyes glanced away from the woman every now and then.

"And _why_ in the _world_ would you ever think that to be a reasonable idea?" Her scrutinizing question made him feel all the more shameful, while Yang's guilt began to pick deeply at her conscious. Glynda set her hands behind her back, holding onto her riding crop as she paced a circle around the two and the desk.

"It was the only way! And it wo—" She cut him off mid-sentence by slapping her wand near his hands on the table in disapproval, causing him to immediately yank his hands to himself at the snap.

"It was foolish and irresponsible." Glynda's green dagger-pointed gaze stabbed sharply into him. "You are on your way to becoming a Huntsman," she then addressed Yang, "And you a Huntress." A slight look of disappointment rose on her face as she denounced, "Neither of you exhibited the qualities by deciding to fight in such a careless manner without seeking an actual supervisor."

They both looked down into their laps, feeling like disgraces, like they had dishonored themselves. Jaune was motionless, heart beating violently, blaming himself as he held firm on staring anywhere but at the woman. Yang slowly twirled a couple strands of her blonde that flowed onto her lap, a dreary frown curling her lips downward. _This is all my fault for losing control, I should have known that I was going to blow up like I always do…_ Her chest rose and fell slowly, her state calmer than her friend's.

Glynda surprisingly spoke with a slightly softer air toward the matter, "Although, I cannot deny that you both performed well against each other, even if it was not an official match. Especially you, Mr. Arc, for not being accustomed to facing a human opponent."

Jaune and Yang lifted their heads in wonder, not believing what their ears told them. There was no possible way that _Glynda Goodwitch_ had just complimented them for blatantly disregarding the rules. The boy managed to babble out, "I-I beg your pardon?" Yang's mouth hung agape, her eyes seeming to bulge out of her sockets, speechless.

"Don't get me wrong, I will not tolerate this sort of reckless behavior again. You two are lucky that I caught you before any real damage was done," her serious tone hit them once again. But it faded to a more neutral, maybe even satisfied sounding voice after her chest heaved in a sigh, "The distance between you and becoming true Huntsmen is enormous. You will still have much to learn following your graduation from this academy, and refuse to ever settle for what you have gained. Believe me when I tell you, every day out in the wild, with no one to watch over you, is worth a week in here. This world is a cruel and unforgiving place, never let it deceive you," she paused, feeling the need to take a break to brace herself to praise them. "Though for now, you two fought exceptionally for your current levels."

Yang was undergoing explosions of fiery excitement erupting and bubbling inside of her, and she was not doing well at hiding her cheer. It meant the world to her having Glynda, of all professors, complimenting her like this. A glowing smile from the girl brightened up the dimly lit green room, while Jaune wasn't too sure how to feel just yet, though he was certain that his Aura had almost fully regenerated back to its max.

The boy relaxed in his seat, leaning back and moving his hands to rest on the arms of the chair, making his right hand barely an inch away from Yang's left.

Glynda suppressed any sign of a slight smile that she might have wanted to show, concealing it with judgmental look, "Don't let this go to your heads, the last thing we need here at Beacon is two more egotistical fools…" She threw a brief sidelong scowl away from them, as if having a particular plump professor in mind.

The chirper girl lost her smile and cooled off, not wanting to humiliate herself even further by her energetic emotions. A light pink blush colored her soft cheeks in embarrassment and she shifted her gaze away from the professor.

"Ms. Xiao Long, you fight fiercely and with passion. Swiftly, forcefully, and relentlessly. A true force to be reckoned with, given you acquire some self-control. Your volatile emotions will be your downfall. I also advise that you adapt to reserving your Semblance, not using it until the advantageous moment, or unless you absolutely must." The blonde being described clenched the armrests on her chair tightly, whitening her knuckles for the pressure. "If you fail to properly keep them in check, then they _will_ overpower you, leading you to do something that you might regret… And there will be _no_ going back."

She sounded as if she spoke from experience, bringing Jaune to tilt his head in curiosity on how she knew all of this. After pondering it for a second, he realized it wouldn't be too far out for an expert warrior like Glynda to have been a witness to such a thing. _Who could she be talking about?_

Yang threw a downcast look at the ground, knowing that this was her worst issue. Glynda's words struck her hard, like she had been bashed in the head by Jaune's shield again. She resentedthe side of her that made it so easy for her to go off. It wasn't her fault, she had never been able to regulate her anger, and nobody dared to confront her about it due to a fear of being pummeled. The only person Yang would hear it from was Ruby, but even the redhead couldn't bring herself to face her sister, only because she was aware of the mood it put the blonde in.

Yes, Yang's rage was useful to have the power in an actual encounter, but not so much when she was simply having a conversation and one tiny wrong word could cause her to blink from zero to one hundred in an instant. Ironically, that exact thing was beginning to happen to the poor girl, and Jaune could see it all happening before him as he turned to check on her.

Her hands were trembling furiously, gripping the seat to the point of the metal bending. Her face showed none of her easygoing or teasing side. She was fuming, provoked by this professor's suggestion. Glynda just tilted her head forward to examine the girl closely without her lenses, thinking of how predictable this all was.

Jaune dragged his hand to hers and nudged it, hoping to grab her attention before she could make a mistake. All he succeeded in was getting a sense of warmth from her radiating heat, the temperature would have been abnormal for anyone besides Yang. She ignored his touch entirely and uprooted from her seat, about to let loose the wrath of a thousand suns, if it had not been for Jaune. He reached out to grab onto her forearm, holding onto her bare skin with a secure grip.

She whipped around to face the boy that was restricting her, on her face was a look that could scare even the bravest of souls. Her terrifying eyes were glinting red. A moment passed like this before she met his blue eyes that swayed like the ocean's depths. He looked back into her eyes, wordlessly imploring for her to settle down. It seemed to assure her, telling her that it would be okay, everything would be okay. Because he would be there when she was in need, he would be there for her.

In response to this she felt herself soothing, as if one small look into those stupid but meaningful eyes of his had effectively tamed the beast inside of her. The red orbs dominating over her normal irises receded, exposing her lovely lilacs as she reclaimed her seat. She casted a dejected look to the side of the room away from them, realizing just how right the professor was.

She could still feel the squeeze on her arm, except for now it had slackened to a looser hold. _Why is he still holding onto me?_ It wasn't that she was not in favor of a cute boy touching her, just this seemed a bit… _Unnatural… Isn't he with Pyrrha? They are going on a date. Or is he with Weiss or Blake? Those three have a history together and everything, it would make sense. I'm SURE he's not with Ruby, at least I hope he isn't. For his sake, of course._

Glynda had been astounded with how Jaune had so easily cooled his hotheaded friend off. _How I would pay to know what he is truly capable of…_ "I prove my point," the woman said matter-of-factly to the girl. "It appears that you will struggle in the beginning, but thankfully, you will not be alone," she nodded toward Jaune.

"Now, since I would rather not keep you both here to all hours of the night, I will set you on your way. Only following the arrangement of your punishment." She noted that sometime she would have to have another talk with the knight about how he holds back while fighting, but she wished to have them out since sunset had already passed by the time they made it into her secluded office.

Jaune grumbled deeply, knowing that he would dread whatever the cruel sentence would be. Yang didn't visually express her care for the subject, still looking to the right at the room's dull wall. But on the inside she listened closely to what Glynda had to instate.

"You must write a thorough report on the significance of color in our world today, and how our lives would be different if we had instead lost the ability to express our individuality after the Great War. Due in one week." She said resolutely, not being gentle with delivering the assignment. She had taken this writing prompt directly from the great book of Ozpin himself. Well, there wasn't actually a book. She had just pulled this from one of his speeches given to previous new students at Beacon. Nevertheless, it would be a tiresome and tedious task, exactly what she intended.

The boy groaned even louder. _This school would be ten times better without all of the paperwork. But I guess if it keeps me with my friends, I'll stick it out, no matter what the cost. So, I can bear a bit of writing._ It wasn't like he had much room to argue, this was much more forgiving than being expelled.

"How long?" He chirped up, the look she returned to him made the boy regret the question as soon as it left his lips.

She narrowed her eyes at him, scowling, repeating her vague term coldly, " _Thorough._ "

"I-is it safe to assume this is a partner project?" He gave her a goofy smile and laughed awkwardly in his very own way, trying to play off his last question that made the mood tense. This was already going to be a difficult task considering everybody has a different definition of the ambiguous word "thorough".

Glynda sighed as she finally took a seat in the chair beside her, though she refused to slacken her body for even a second. "I suppose I will grant you both the opportunity to complete this as partners, since you both infringed upon the rules as partners. And for cooperation purposes, so that you may become more familiar with each other. The teams you two belong to obviously synergize well together, therefore it wouldn't do any harm to collaborate here."

The woman appeared exhausted regardless of her efforts to hide the fact. Her eyelids slowly began to close, they would have if she had not snapped them open, chastising herself mentally for being informal in front of her pupils. "It's high time you both proceed back to your dorms."

Jaune nodded and stood, now feeling his Aura at healthy state. He was still latched on to Yang's wrist, and she still looked as if she was staring off into another dimension while being deeply in thought. He shot a concerned glance her way, bothered that she was so upset. Really she was just probing her mind and reconsidering certain aspects all because of what he had done to her.

"Yang?"

A gentle squeeze from him and his worried voice pulled the girl back to the land of the living, "Y-yeah? What's up?" She sounded disoriented and like her mind was still hooked on something.

"Time to go," Jaune gave her a warm smile that was meant to brighten her day, but sadly it only yielded a quick nod from the strangely quiet girl as she joined him in standing. He released her arm so that she could walk freely over to the closed elevator doors.

As if the metal transport had sensed them, the doors of the machine immediately opened for the passengers as they neared the entrance. Jaune entered after Yang, wondering how these things always knew exactly when someone required a trip without having a signal to alert it. Yang on the other hand, thought nothing of the convenient timing.

The thick elevator doors closed, obscuring their line of sight to the professor. An uncomfortable silence overcame the small room. One that made the back of Jaune's head itch annoyingly, obligating him to break the soundless period. "Soo… Wanna go to the library to get this thing started right now?"

Yang set her eyes on his for the first time since she had almost set her anger free in the meeting, "You think that would be smart? It's past curfew and we're already in trouble," she inquired, gazing deeply into his eyes in an attempt to discover any sort of hidden intention. Any guy would absolutely take advantage of getting alone with her, and she was well aware of this. _But would Jaune really try that?_

"Come on," he said this and the doors pulled to either side as if on cue, opening up to a darkened hallway. The only lights in the passage were dim and provided barely enough brightness to light the halls completely, but just enough to see where you wanted to go. He took her hand, guiding her along, inadvertently making her heart skip a beat and the rhythm of said organ quicken to a panicky pace.

Under the faint hall lighting, a flustered pink blush spread across her face. Yet to her relief, it was perfectly invisible to anyone who might throw a look her way. Not that anyone was up and about at this time, but in case someone actually was roaming around, they would suspect nothing. _This boy… Has guts._ She admired the careless and partially reckless side of him, it made him all the more relatable and appealing to her. Except she would deny everything, convincing herself that she saw nothing special in the knight.

They made it to the library in almost no time, Jaune had forced the girl to run along with him, not slowing down for any reason. He pushed the door open to the large study, as the two entered, they were enveloped in darkness. They would have to leave the lights off or else they might risk alerting anyone who walks by the entrance. The only source of light was produced by the hologram projectors for each computer. They blinked a dim red light that came from the opening where the display usually was shown, switching on and off every ten seconds.

The two made their way over to the computers, still hand in hand. Jaune thought nothing of it, he forgot that he was even doing it, Yang was the exact opposite, her blush deepening over time. _What's wrong with him?! Why is he doing this?!_ Even though she complained so furiously internally, she found herself not separating the hold. Like a small part of her refused to, and was causing the rest of her to do the same.

Jaune pressed the button on the base of the projector to activate the computer. The display flashed a brighter red for a final time before the screen turned on and changed to a green. The last ray of red shined on his sword, a maroon color that almost exactly resembled the red burned into the center of his sword during his last nightmare.

As a result of this recollection the blonde boy tensed up. He felt cold and alone like he had in the darkened realm, even with the very warm and real girl that had her hand locked in his. Shivers ran down his spine, making him feel like something was crawling under his skin.

" _D-don't do this for her!"_

The cry of his wintery friend replayed in his mind. Her final words before _it_ killed her. That wretched beast of pure hatred which he had been consumed by, overcoming his light, infusing him with a tempting dark power. Power that made him feel invincible, undefeatable by anyone or anything. He let go of the girl's hand and took a step away from the computer, looking terrified of something that she had no idea about.

 _That… Thing._ The boy shook his head in denial, he would never let that happen. Ever.

Yang lost all worries about herself and focused them on Jaune. In an instant he had somehow flipped his whole mood upside down, now appearing afraid of this computer for a reason that she was not aware. She began carefully and compassionately to get to his soft side, "Jaune, what's wrong?" There was no doubt in her mind that he was not being his usual self.

He spoke senselessly, without choosing his words precisely, "Another nightmare." It slipped his mind that he was supposed to keep these to himself.

She was instantly intrigued by what he answered. She picked up on him saying _"_ another", meaning that this was not the first of these nightmares. "What was it about?" She pried curiously while taking a seat in one of the chairs next to the computer, facing the boy instead of the display.

"N-nothing, it doesn't matter," he sat in the chair by her and faced the screen. He hoped that maybe if he tried to get straight to work, then she would follow suit and help. Much to his displeasure, he would not get that lucky.

She suspected that the subject actually did matter a significant amount, so she would berate him until he revealed what the contents of the dreams entailed. "Jaune, you're awful at lying. Spit it out, or I'll beat it out of you," she threatened with a slight bit of unwillingness, knowing that she would do nothing of the sort. This was when being strong and intimidating proved helpful to the girl, so that she could easily get information out of others. Yet saying this to Jaune was different than it would have been with someone else. She felt a peculiar opposition tugging at her, as if telling her to not treat him this way… Like a mysterious force had forbidden her to do so.

He was under the impression that the girl's blunt remark was true. And anyone in their right mind knew very well to never reject one of Yang's insisting requests. "I was in some sort of dark world where there was nothing except for me," he started in a hushed tone. "But I wasn't exactly… Me." It wasn't possible for him to sound any more serious or afraid than he was now. "Whatever I was felt like it had been emptied of all love and care, it was fueled by a perverse hate for everything, excluding just one person. It purely wanted to deal pain and torture. It longed for… _Blood_."

Yang's eyes were widened in shock at the last word; her orbs were glued to the depressed looking boy. She was confused on how Jaune, the most loving and caring person of Remnant, could be converted into a corrupt being like that. _This was only a bad dream, right? He shouldn't be worrying this much…_

"Then this invisible lady asked me what I feared, I replied saying that I feared nothing and…" The boy trailed off and wished not to continue, yet he urged himself to go on. Not only because Yang wanted to hear this, but it also felt like weight was being lifted from his shoulders with every word spoken. "I-I confessed my love for her," he choked out in a feeble voice. He remembered how the inexplicable words had burned and seared his throat. "Weiss appeared out of nowhere, absolutely terrified, she didn't know that I wasn't myself and…"

Once again Jaune was unable to speak another word. He was decimated by what had happened next in the dream, it made his heart break conjuring the image in his head of what the monster had done. Through the dark the boy could be seen leaning his elbows on the desk's top, burying his face into his hands. _He's really worked up about this…_ She knew what she must do to help him proceed, except she racked her brain for other ideas that might involve less touching between the two.

The girl sighed internally, apprehensive to do this for him. _Well Lady-Killer, looks like today's your lucky day._ She summoned the courage to reach out, brush his hands away from his face, and cup his cheek as she pulled him so that he looked directly into her lilac orbs. She used the utmost amount of tenderness, keeping in mind of how fragile his emotions were at the moment. In the green light provided by the computer, a glistening was left visible in his eyes, showing the sadness that had welled there over time.

A stab of agony ran through her heart as she took in the sight of him. He looked crushed. She furrowed her eyes in an empathetic frown, "Jaune, it's alright. None of it was real, and now I'm here to help you." In another gesture of benevolence, she willed herself to stroke his cheek warmly with her thumb, awkwardly consoling the anguished boy.

She wasn't used to being so touchy like this with a boy, it was considerably more intimate than she had ever been with one. Everyone had it in their minds that Yang was a daring girl who had already done everything under the sun with the boys of her choosing. But truthfully, she was as inexperienced as this knight. Her confident attitude played a major role in helping her appear more familiar with these intimate situations. But on the inside she knew that she was all talk and no game when it came to it.

Jaune responded by taking a deep breath in preparation, misery picking at his emotions like a crow at a corpse. The girl's touch awakened a feeling of encouragement inside of him, and showed no means of moving any time soon.

"I killed her." He said all of a sudden. A single shattered tear ran down his cheek, even though it wasn't exactly he who had done the dreadful deed. "I… He… It," he fumbled trying to settle on what to call the being. "…Killed her. And I don't know what it means or how that would ever happen!" He raised his voice over the whisper that they had been using, scaring the girl's soft hand away from his cheek. "I-I think I'm going crazy or something, I keep seeing my friends getting killed and I can't do anything to stop it, every time I go to sleep I have to worry about whatever unbearable things I'll have to live through. I'm even seeing people who I have no clue if they're real or not!" He was yelling now, forgetting to breath before his quick-firing words, not caring for what he lets slip. He was breaking down after all of the stress, it was bound to happen eventually. He was losing his touch with reality, losing himself. "I can't take it anymore, Yang! I can't do this! How am I supposed to be Ozpin's 'valiant leader', guiding my team and friends, when I can't even tell myself the difference between what's real and what's fantasy?" The boy was losing his mind from the pressure, letting go of his deepest and darkest secret. He felt like his throbbing head might blow if any other strain was placed on his back, his emotions crumbling and piling like fallen debris. " _I can't_ ," he finished in a defeated whisper.

Perhaps if he were older and more mature, he would have a better chance at sustaining this tension, but he was still just a kid. A boy whose unique fate had been decided since birth, permitting him no choice in being the normal person he longed to be. He was not used the strain qualified Huntsmen underwent, and this whole title of becoming a valiant leader was of a much greater burden than that. He was a boy whose fate was of unmatched importance.

Yang was taken aback by his sudden outburst. Yet she couldn't suppress an overwhelming compulsion to comfort him and get to the bottom of his pain. He needed this help, now more than ever. She whispered lightly in a tone to cool him, "Shhh, slow down Jaune. Breath." She gave him a generous amount of time to assemble his scattered thoughts, and he used all of it to heed her directions of slowing down. He steadied his rapid breaths and the intense shaking that had begun after confessing that he had killed the dream version of Weiss. "Ready now?"

He nodded in reply, having a more level head now.

"Good," she smiled lightheartedly. _That was simpler than I expected._ "First, how are you Ozpin's 'valiant leader'?"

He was wary to inform her of his ancient abilities, and felt like he should avoid doing so, but the damage was already done. She already knew that something fishy is going on, there was no going back now.

His head hung low, the roar of objecting thoughts in his mind failed to dissuade him from proceeding. "Apparently I was born during this rare occurrence called the Transcendence of Color, giving me these unordinary powers that make me 'special'." He confessed with a draft of dismay, feeling more alone than ever because of the pedestal he was placed upon. "Ozpin is telling me that I'm a born leader who has to lead through this dark time, but I don't see how I could possibly be capable of anything like that," he spoke in an unenthused drawl.

"Wait, we're in a time of peace, there's nothing dark about what's going on," Yang pointed out with an inquisitive look on her face.

"I know. No wait, I mean I don't know what he means."

She took a minute to wrap her head around what he had just told her, wondering why he was so disturbed if he had irregular powers, assuming that he was telling the truth. Nonetheless, she would keep her mind set on getting to the bottom of his sorrow, and once having done that, she would do her best to fix it. "Well whatever you have to do, I'm sure you'll pull it off. You're not one to go down without a fight, Jaune," she gave her best shot at a hopeful smile to encourage him.

A single message of disagreement ran through his head, _but I am one to fail…_

The powers were the next priority on Yang's list of question to ask, now that the first had been dealt with. She wanted to figure out what made him stand out among the rest, besides being the most caring and compassionate boy in history. Since after all, they were going to be fighting on the same side and it might be helpful to be familiar with her allies. "And what do those powers do?"

He shrugged lethargically, not being certain how to answer her clearly. He himself wasn't even sure. "As far as I know, in Forever Fall when Pyrrha and I ran into that Death Stalker, I was able to make her Aura increase above the natural limits, making her faster and stronger. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to do it again…"

Yang's eyes bolted open at hearing the impossible being accomplished by this boy. _There's no way._ "How?"

"I'm still asking myself the same thing," his eyes still refused to meet hers, he didn't feel the need to look up from the oh-so-interesting ground.

She was aware that it would prove useless to question him any further on this topic, so she skipped to the next. "Who are the imaginary people that you think you're seeing?"

A loud out of the ordinary thud sounded from one of the aisles of books, discontinuing the two's conversation.

Yang was the first to react, rising from her chair and hissing in an undertone, "What was that?"

"Someone might have caught us!" He yelped in a similar whisper.

The girl narrowed her eyes in the direction of the row where the noise had originated from. _Something doesn't add up..._ "If it were a professor, then why would they sneak around rather than confront us?" The only other two known professors other than Glynda were not the most stealthy of individuals from what she could recall.

Jaune squinted his eyes curiously, the more he contemplated it, the more it made sense to him. Yang then nodded her head in the direction, signaling him to tail her as she led the way over to the row. Both of them moved with light feet through the darkness, making no noise with their tip-toes.

The two positioned themselves on either side of the lane, pressing their backs against the ends of the sturdy bookshelves. They listened closely, ready to pick up any other sound from whoever (or whatever) was in the library with them. At the sound of gentle shuffling the blondes froze like statues, not moving or talking, not even daring to breath. From their places, the two were completely invisible to what was in the corridor.

"Come on… Where is it? They must have heard that, how couldn't they have?" The female's elegant accent flowed to the ears of the concealed listeners, one that Jaune instantly recognized, knowing it all too well. He peaked around the corner of the shelf, making out a faint light, most likely belonging to a Scroll. It was panning over the multiple book bindings that were set into their places on the ledge of wood that held them up. As if someone was searching for one title in particular.

Jaune was able to use the shadows to his advantage by creeping over to Yang without being seen and barely whispering into her ear, only loud enough for her to hear, "I'll go first, wait here." Before Yang had a chance to respond, he had already pulled away from her range of quiet speaking.

The mysterious girl's concentration on locating her target made her less aware to her surroundings, this made it much easier to sneak around undetected. He took one step toward the girl, then another, then another, not alerting her. _I'm totally a secret agent._ He was confident that he would catch her off guard.

Just as it seemed like he would get the jump on her, she rounded about with a book in hand, not expecting to get a view of a shadowy form in front of her. She squealed in surprise and dropped her Scroll on the floor. At first, the identity of who was before her went unrealized. But when she blinked a couple times to let her eyes accommodate to the lack of light, she wished that she had fled right after dropping that book.

"What are you doing here?" He sounded curious, a touch of fear lined in the tone he used. He was only a couple feet away from the girl.

Her first instinct was to attack his mind like she had last time. She was desperate, not knowing any better than to act out of fear to save her neck. She flooded his brain with a rush of drowsiness, this time it was a much higher dose. His legs turned to jelly, immediately causing him to collapse, not having the strength in any limb to pick himself back up. The only view available to him was of the plain ceiling, blackened by the dark. Except it was being blotted out by a cloud of fuzz that began to block out his vision. His thoughts became tangled and disordered, making it difficult for him to do anything at all. He struggled to keep his eyes open, they were begging to close despite the protests of his mind. They wanted him to go into a deep sleep…

"What are you doing to him?!" Yang shouted, not minding her volume. She stormed out of her place from peeking silently around the corner of books, thundering loudly toward the terror-stricken girl.

"I—," she was given no chance to explain.

The fierce blonde dragon cut her off by shoving her violently into the shelf, knocking a couple of books off and pinning the unknown girl by her shoulders. She hung inches off the ground, staring into the face of what she assumed was death itself. Blood colored eyes. Hair tips flickering in flames. Teeth barred in pure rage. And strength that a girl like this usually didn't possess. The violet-eyed girl had no hope, her reserves were already drained from taking out Jaune. It consumed most of her power to fully incapacitate someone, that's why she could not perform the action again.

"Stop what you're doing to him!" Yang spat, her scathing eyes burning holes into the girl.

The stranger immediately obeyed, releasing Jaune from his undesired compulsion to drift into unconsciousness. He shook his head to wake his thoughts, the feeling in his arms and legs returned from their inactive state. He slowly picked himself up with the support of the bookshelf beside him. One of his hands assisted him to walk along books over to the girls, a groggy feeling still present in him.

Once reaching them, he patted Yang on the shoulder, notifying her to let the girl down. The brawler was prepared to beat the snot out of this girl for doing that, and she couldn't place her finger on why. Yes, the strange girl had done something wrong to her friend that might have hurt him, and she would fight to protect him any day. _But why did I flip over it? Why did it trigger me?_ She set the victim of her rage back on the ground, who was stunned. Yang reverted into her cool state, her blonde locks flowing blonde and her eyes no longer relating to those of a Grimm.

"I'm sorry, I-I had to or else she would have killed them!" She sputtered out hysterically, she was still obviously petrified by Yang's rough treatment.

"Who are you?" Jaune insisted with regained strength, taking a step toward the girl as Yang took one back. The first thing he wanted to know was what he should call her.

"Violet Cascade," She mumbled unproudly, like she hated it being spoken.

He took another step closer, feeling anger rising inside of him for what she has done to him. "You're the one responsible for the nightmares, aren't you?"

She avoiding looking at him, locking her eyes on the ground as she shook her head in shame. A small whimper escaped her lips before replying, "You don't understand, I had no choice, _she_ will kill them if I do not obey…" Upon pronouncing "she", Violet shook in her place, as if it was outlawed to even refer to the woman.

"Who is she?" Yang piped up, taking a step forward to join in on the conversation.

Jaune added along with his friend, "And who is she hurting?" The two were both considerably lost on what this girl was only hinting at. They found it a bit ridiculous that she wouldn't simply tell them who was getting hurt and who was doing it so that it could be resolved.

Violet startled them both by jerking her head up to fix her purple mystified eyes on Jaune's, "She is obsessed with you..."

His mind screeched to a halt, walling off from the outer world as he rummaged through his noggin for a guess at who it could be. The answer so simple, yet he still couldn't see it. He went through all of the women he had become acquainted with, time and time again. Except for the one from his dreams.

Yang took the lead of the interrogation while Jaune was in his own realm, repeating his question from earlier, "Who is she going to hurt?"

Violet's eyes jumped to and fro restlessly. She seemed to be searching for someone that might be stalking from the shadows. "No, I-I've said too much, _she_ might hear us," she clung to her thick book, then darted out of sight, leaving the two with even more unanswered questions.

Yang would have pursued the girl if it hadn't been for Jaune not responding to her orders to follow her. Minutes passed before he finally reacted from her grabbing his shoulders and rocking him back and forth, "Snap out of it, Jaune!"

At the conclusion of her final syllable, the two both heard the knob of the library click, signaling a door closed, making it clear that someone else was now in their midst. Only a couple booming words needed to reach them to reveal who the newcomer was. "Hmm, it seems that there are prowlers of the night present… But not Grimm…" The one and only: Professor Port.

 _Whatever this is all about will have to wait. Nothing is going to ruin my night with Pyrrha._ He finally came back to her, snickering as quiet as he could at the humorous man. _There'll be another time to figure this Violet situation out._ He suggested softly, "We should get back to our dorms."

 _But I still have so many unanswered questions!_ Yang protested mentally, she was not confident in her whispering skills at the moment. _Who's the lady? Who is she hurting? What's going on here?!_

None of the girl's intrusive thoughts would be resolved that night as they weaseled their way to the second less used exit, making it back to their rooms without a problem.

The next evening, the troubled girl had a lot on her mind as she walked to her dorm. Yang was returning from putting some work in with Jaune on the paper they had been assigned, taking up their entire Saturday morning up to now. After their time together, he was long gone; he had sped back to his room for some odd reason that continued to elude her.

For the whole duration of the session she had come off as being distracted by something. Every time Jaune asked for advice he had to interrupt her fazed out state in order to acquire what he needed. And when he would ask what bothered her, she would shake him off and deny there was anything wrong.

Now Yang was deep in thought as she made her way down the long hall, dragging her feet lazily. _How does Jaune know whoever the lady is? And why is he just acting as if nothing happened last night?_ He had not brought up any of the events belonging to the preceding night, leading Yang to believe he might be keeping information from him. In reality, he was lost on what was going on, just like her.

"Yang!" Ruby cutely skipped until arriving by Yang, then transitioned into a walk to match her sister's pace. "What were you and Jaune doing?"

The blonde was taken off guard at first, "Oh! Hey, sis." In a smoother tone she added, "We were just working on a paper for Goodwitch."

"That's because you beat him up, right?" Ruby accused, sniggering at her sister's punishment.

Yang shot her an annoyed glare, "How'd you know?"

"Well, Pyrrha isn't great at keeping secrets," the redhead smiled innocently. "Though I can't say the same for Blake, she's got us all beat in that game!" She faked a distressed face, but couldn't hold it and broke into another giggle.

"Don't let anyone outside of our two teams know, alright?" She requested politely.

Ruby nodded and saluted, "You've got it, sis!" She wasn't going to question why Yang wished to keep this on the down low, she would listen to whatever her sister told her to do. Yang was like a mother to her younger sister. She had always been that way ever since the reaper's true mother disappeared. And the blonde would fiercely protect her little sister for all eternity, no matter what.

The two were coming up on their room, only about ten steps were left between the door and them when Yang spoke in a grateful voice, "I'm just glad to see you haven't gotten yourself into any trouble…"

"Yet!" The red squeaked back, seeming determined to give her sister a great hassle. She was convinced that it was her duty as a sister to do so, and have the most possible fun. _Until she throws a fit…_ Ruby chuckled mischievously, worrying the blonde girl who opened their door.

They missed the muffled complaint of a stressed spartan as they closed their door behind them, joining the rest of their team.

 _(Meanwhile, in JNPR's dorm)_

" _Nora_! This is serious!" Pyrrha griped, coming close to sounding like she was whimpering. She hurriedly paced from her dresser to her mirror, examining herself in her usual attire. "I have not the slightest clue on what to wear, and Jaune will be here soon!" The fretful spartan clapped her hands to her head, accidently ruffling her hair as she hopelessly fell backward, letting her bed catch her. This was the most important night of her life so far, and she would hate for it to end in a disaster.

Nora was sprawled on her back, dangling her head off one side of her bed to look at her teammate. She started in a singsong voice, "Pyrrha and Jaune-Jaune sitting in a… Bullhead, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! Well, until Jaune throws up from his weird tummy…" She giggled at her own joke, then gasped as if something important just came to mind, "Are you and Jaune… _Together-together_?" She put emphasis on the last two words, making them sound like a long lost treasure, sought after by people for their entire lives, yet in the end, few found it.

The redhead groaned back to her friend, not willing to answer. _I now am certain I want to be, but he sees me as just a friend. No more, no less. It will always be that way between us. Or…_ A tiny spark inside of her whispered a prayer for the contrary, wishing that it would eventually evolve into something more special, more loving. _What are these strange emotions that this boy woke inside of me?_ She let out a lengthy huff, having an internal heart to heart with herself regarding the knight.

"Anyways, I bet Jaune will be fine with whatever you wear! I mean, LOOK at you! You're drop-dead gorgeous!" Nora complemented, earning a flattered blush from the other girl.

"I'm gonna have to agree with Nora on this one!" They heard a call from the bathroom, the voice belonging to the blonde in mention. He pushed the door open to pop his head out for them to see, causing Pyrrha to jump to her feet in an uncoordinated manner, her overwhelming emotions being the reason for the ungracefulness.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha looked mortified. _He heard all of that…_

"Jaune!" Nora yelled, drowning out the spartan's voice. She leapt to her feet and cheered at his completely unpredictable arrival, then saw that her closest friend was missing in action. "Where's Renny?"

The black-haired ninja popped his head out from around the bathroom doorway above Jaune's. "I was not a part of this. I voted to stay out, as you ordered in when we all woke. This was Jaune's doing!" He claimed in an almost desperate manner, immediately throwing their leader under the bus.

Jaune put on an unconvincing smile and entered the main room for the team, "Hey, I'm sorry," he apologized with the most sincerity her could offer, which was not much. "I just had to know what was going on!"

"What exactly do you agree on with Nora?" Pyrrha asked with a gentle quiver of anticipation, her heart racing as well as the spread of a light redness across her features. This was the more relevant subject; she had obviously had already gotten over the trespassing of the two boys.

The blonde raised an eyebrow at his partner, "Now that, my friend, I shall leave to the imagination," he said with a cryptic tone and mad grin.

"Oh, the intrigue…" Nora commented with an open-mouthed face of actual interest. Ren smiled kindly at her, making his way to her side.

Jaune laughed with mirth at the gullible girl, taking his place by his partner as Ren had done. He smiled amiably at the spartan, "Pyr, you don't have to impress anyone."

"Are you sure?" She worried, fearing that this minor decision could ruin the possibility of her ever being the boy's love.

"Positive! Heck, I'm already impressed! Isn't that all that matters?" His warm smile was substituted for one that was more joking, making it difficult to judge how serious he was about the statement.

Pyrrha bit her lip bashfully, wondering why she always got this nervous and shy around him. The flustered redness had yet to disappear from the girl, only deepening with each word of praise spoken to her. _If you only knew how much that matters to me…_

"We should get going, we don't have all night!" He offered his hand to her like a gentleman, which she accepted with a bubble of joy. "Actually, we do. It is a 24-hour fair after all, so we could wait a while," his contradiction was followed by yet another toothy smile.

Pyrrha fell in love with the idea of having their night out at the fair from the first moment he mentioned it, which was right now. It was so simple, yet wonderful. _It's so… Jaune-like._ She smiled, her inner self almost felt the urge to hop in glee, clapping her hands like an overexcited child.

Nora came out of nowhere the two could see, shoving the them to the door and beckoning them to get out already, "Nope, you have your night, we have ours! Shoo!" She was adamant that they exit now, and the last thing that anyone wants to do is anger this hammer-wielding girl of pure energy.

"Wait I forgot my—," the slamming door cut Pyrrha off, she finished in a quiet mumble, "Lien…" She turned the knob to re-enter, finding that it was locked already.

Jaune laughed playfully at her misfortune and squeezed her hand, "Come on, you won't need it."

"But how will I pay for anything?"

He raised eyebrow at her with a face that said "are you kidding".

She gave him a blank stare, "Am I missing something?"

He motioned with his head, instructing her to walk with him. "I'll be paying for everything tonight. My treat," he smiled invitingly as she received the message to come with him.

"But Jaune…"

"Shush! Nope!" He rejected politely, "It's on me." Pyrrha covered her reluctance, burrowing it deep inside of her. She didn't want him to see it, but then again, she also didn't want him to pay for her.

The two hastily made their way to the Bullhead docks, but kept a walking pace to not draw too much attention. That plan soon became pointless.

It was only a couple minutes to walk there, so they weren't too far away now. As they passed through the crowded surrounding grounds of the academy, they felt the envious stares of others searing into them. Most of which were from bitter male students. Guys who were stronger, faster, and better looking than the knight. All of them were dumbfounded on how a klutz like Jaune could win the heart of a stunning and brilliant girl such as Pyrrha.

The redhead caught on to this quickly, nibbling the inside of her cheek and feeling unsettled by the lingering eyes. _I don't understand what's so strange about two ordinary humans, going to have a completely normal evening to themselves. Even if they may be holding hands like companions._ She unconsciously came closer to the blonde, her arm making contact and rubbing against his.

Jaune took enjoyment from the sudden contact, gaining a small smile that went unnoticed by her. Though the roar of the readying Bullhead smashed his brief happiness to tiny pieces. Somehow, the main plan of taking the ship had snuck right out of that thick skull of his. Growls from his objecting stomach came to life, he already felt like puking from the mere image. He didn't see any aircraft; he only saw a flying death trap.

"H-how about we just stay here?" He stuttered cautiously. "Fancy dinner at the cafeteria?" His offer was desperate, not one part of him wanted to get on this wretched thing.

His partner hopped onto the main platform of the open ship, still holding his hand. "It will be far worse hanging out of the opening as we fly, once we take off," she appeared amused by his silly attitude. "Because I refuse to let go," her alluring orbs begged him to get on with her, their glow a similar brightness to that of twin stars sparkling in the clear night sky.

"Did you just _threaten_ me?" He feigned a dramatic offended expression, then uneasily accepted her assistance in climbing up.

She attained a blamelessness and pure smile to defend herself, "No, I simply influenced your decision with a harmless indication!" The Bullhead took off, quickly ascending high into the sky and following the set course to the destination.

He shook his head, "I had no idea that dangling out of the door at this height was 'harmless'." He momentarily broke out a laugh, it only lasted a couple seconds before he clamped his mouth shut with both hands, preventing any of his insides from become outsides. Pyrrha immediately took the hint, escorting him to the seats next to the wide side window where she sat him down. She then went off to look for something in the cockpit, returning with a metal trash bin that she set in front of him.

Jaune stared at her in glory. He hummed a close-mouthed "thank you", then dropped his gaze to the inside of the can in case he had to use it. _She knows me so well! Man, if my wife in the future is like Pyrrha, I'll be the luckiest man in the world! But what girl would ever want to marry me?_

The possible answer to that question laid in three different girls _at the moment_ , except they had not yet discovered this. One of the three actually was taking a seat next to the boy at this very second.

"You're welcome, next time it might be wise to choose another method of transportation." She clenched her teeth and held her tongue, mentally scolding herself for saying "next time". _How do you know there might be a next time?! This might just be a onetime event._

If Jaune hadn't have nodded to the deal, she would have continued to put herself down. But he was agreeing. The girl could only assume that either meant he missed the question, or he actually was interested in doing this again, considering this went well.

For the rest of the ride there, Jaune held his head in the can, not vomiting. Pyrrha sat quietly by his side, just watching him making sure that whatever happened, he would be okay. And in the end, he shockingly was. The Bullhead was touching down on the platform located inside of Vale's most popular fair, letting the two hop down and kick off their late evening.

As they strolled down a path lined by concessions, all Jaune could see was delicious food that called his name. He had completely ignored the memory of his previous nausea from the ship. "So many options…" He ran off to a stand where they sold the greasiest of foods, purchasing the largest available size of fries. He didn't even wait for Pyrrha to advise him not to do so because of how unhealthy they are.

"Jaune…" She stopped herself _. This is a time to be calm, relax_. The food wouldn't hurt him too badly, and plus, she wanted to enjoy this night to the fullest more than anything else. He began stuffing his face mercilessly, not sparing a single slice of the poor potatoes. They were gone in no time, before he even could offer Pyrrha any. "Did you at least appreciate them while they lasted?" She looked at him with amazement for how quickly he devoured them.

He tilted his head, pondering the question as they walked, "Mediocre at best," he joked with a rub off his unsated belly.

"Well, that's better than bad I suppose," she said, looking at the bright side.

"Exactly!" He yelled positively, not bothering to keep his voice lowered for all of the bystanders around them.

After a while of wandering aimlessly and deep talk, Jaune was able to figure out more about his elegant and gifted partner. He had finally pieced together why Pyrrha was so disciplined to hide her emotions after she further explained her status prior to Beacon. She was reserved due to habitually maintaining a strong image for her fans, she was the "Invincible Girl", meaning that she was not allowed to show any sort of weakness. _She deserves to have a chance at being treated like a normal girl, not some idol on a pedestal._ Finding this out only made Jaune even more determined to help her open up and become more comfortable with herself.

After that, the conversation had descended in casual small talk. The path that they were walking on led them to the fair games area. Upon entering this section, Pyrrha instantly squealed in joy, bolting over to one of the booths, yanking Jaune along with her. The game here was a classic, knock the three bottles that were stacked in a triangle down, with only the throw of a single ball. The concept of the seemingly simple game was not what had drawn the attention of the girl. It was the huge stuffed animal fox that was hanging from the booth's ceiling.

Jaune followed her eyes up to the toy, never expecting Pyrrha to be so interested in something so childish. Though he had to admit, her reaction to seeing this was incredibly cute, so he felt the need to gain the prize for her. "The fox?"

She nodded shyly, feeling slightly embarrassed for showing immaturity. She spoke softly, "I've always loved them…"

He looked from her, to the fox, then her, then back to the fox, then the man running the game, then finished by looking back to her. "Okay let's make a deal," he smiled admiringly at her. The spartan became giddy once again, ears perking up to hear him out. "We will have our fun, and then before we leave, I will win it for you so that we don't have to carry it all night."

She bounced in gleefully, letting her emotional constraints down for now. Without thinking, she hugged the boy tightly, not embracing him long enough for him to hug her back. She pulled away with a blush that matched her hair, "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help myself," she tried playing it off with another sweet smile. _What were you thinking? Oh that's right, nothing._ She felt like she should not have done that, but she actually didn't regret it for a second. No one from school was here to make fun of them, so why shouldn't she show a little more affection to the boy? She loved how warm he always was, how gentle he felt against her, his touch made her feel cared for. It made her feel protected from all of the wrong in the world.

"Hey, you don't see me complaining," he grinned, exhibiting a blush that was put to shame by Pyrrha's as they walked off in another direction. "This date is already going better than my last!" He shouted in pride for the accomplishment.

 _No way, he's been on a date before me? Wait, he just admitted it was a date. A Date. I am on a date, with Jaune Arc._ Prickles began to pick at her body, making her feel divine raised an eyebrow at him, trying to figure out if he was lying. "You? On a date?" Half of her was in disbelief, the other half held a disheartened feeling since she was not his first.

"Yep. Nine-year-old me was a ladies' man!" He gloated pitifully, not being very convincing. In a more unamused tone he told the truth, "Actually, it was the opposite of that. And at the time, I was only under the impression I was on a date. But in reality, a girl sat by me at the lunch table and said 'hi' to me. Which caused me to throw up all over her…" He scratched the back of his head with his left hand because his right was still occupied by Pyrrha's.

She did her best to stifle a fit of laughter with the help of her right hand, taking a while to get over the fact that his first date wasn't really a date, and how unfortunately it had ended for him. "So, does that mean you were Vomit-Boy before your time at Beacon?"

He rolled his eyes and shot a sidelong smirk at her, "I guess so, but please don't start calling me that, Yang and Ruby give me a hard enough time already."

"I promise I won't…" Pyrrha trailed off as they came close to a specific ride that she had thought was one of the most romantic of them all. "…If you come along with me on that…" She lifted a finger to direct his eyes to a gigantic circle that was rotating around a center, looking like the wheel of a bike. Gondola-like cradles were attached to the wheels, being turned round and round in slow motion. The lights lining the spokes and circumference were just awakening as the sun was beginning to set. The colors of these consisted of yellow, red, and orange. The dreadful Ferris Wheel.

He gulped audibly. _Well Jaune. You need to think out the particulars before deciding a place to go on a date._ "Pyrrha, I don't know…" His stomach attested to his doubt while he examined the wheel. The two were already standing in line, and it looked like they would be able to get on with the batch of riders now entering. He felt his knees shaking just from the image of him being up so high spinning in circles.

He looked back down to his partner's face and was greeted by the most irresistible sight in all of Remnant. This was by far, the most adorable thing he had ever seen. The striking redhead had pulled her face into a cute pout, her widened puppy dog eyes sparkled and glistened marvelously, begging him to do this for her.

Jaune felt his breath being stolen from him, his heart aflutter in the most confusing ways. _What's happening? Why is she acting so weird?_ He allowed her to gradually lead him forward, entering their own carrier that was open to look at the scenery while up in the air. He felt all worries slide away from his mind, all of his thoughts focused on what was going on here and now.

Pyrrha smiled lightly in triumph, "It won't be too awful, I'll be right here with you. And, you can conveniently puke off the edge if you feel the need to," she giggled gently, sitting on the flat seat with her back leaning against the pod's wall that stopped people from tipping right off the edge. Jaune did the same, placing himself very close to the girl. Strangely, his stomach was absolutely fine. No queasiness, nausea, vomit, or anything. He would be able to experience this ride like most others were able to.

The wheel smoothly took off, beginning the long ride that would go on for a while. A drafty wind blew across the whole machine, blowing the spartan's long red hair dreamily. Jaune turned to absorb with his eyes the beauty of her, having his breath taken away yet again. _She's so attractive… And she cares about me so much… Wait, what am I thinking? This is Pyrrha, my partner. Not my girlfriend._ Pyrrha's teeth chattered slightly, she brought her hands across her front to rub her biceps for warmth, shivering next to the boy. Her normal outfit was not well suited for cold weather.

Jaune's instant impulse was to wrap an arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. Sparks began to fly in her head, igniting wildly and driving her feelings for him to an even higher degree. She blushed once again, turning to gaze deeply into his eyes, losing herself in his mesmerizing orbs. It felt like she was soaring off into an unreal dream, her eyes became glossed with desire. Her heart began to race as they simultaneously set their heads in motion, their lips on a course to introducing each other, their eyes shutting at the same time…

 _This throbbing in my heart, it's happening… I never imagined… Jaune I lo—_

"You looked cold, so I thought I'd fix that," the goofy tone snapped her out of her lovely fantasy. It was all just her imagination cooking up what she really wanted to have. Her cheeks burned terribly, it wasn't possible for her to get any redder than she was now. In reality, he had removed his hoodie and draped it over her front, blocking the wind from her skin.

"T-thank you," she sounded disoriented, thanks to her mushy feelings towards the knight. She moved her hands to rest at either side of her on the seat, his sweatshirt already working on protecting her from the cold. _Of course, I should have known it was too good to be true._

He smiled modestly and turned to watch the sun as it set, "Don't mention it, my queen." It had been a while since she had heard him call her that, she had forgotten how fond of it she was.

An abrupt gasp slipped Pyrrha's lips, a light puff of breath expelling itself from her. _He's…_

Jaune had taken her left hand into his again, only this time unlike the others, he _intertwined_ their fingers together, bonding them as one for the first time. It was like her some unworldly force froze their hearts in the same instance, but in the finest of ways. It was indescribable. She leaned her head to the left, laying it delicately on his shoulder, as they shared this sunset. It felt natural to the both of them, like this was where she was meant to be. She was content with this, letting a pleased expression overtake her earlier surprise. _The kiss will have to wait until another day, hopefully not too long._

Thoughts were whirling rapidly through their minds, making them both lose track of time. Jaune was riddled with complete confusion on why his Aura was fluctuating irregularly, and why he couldn't get this girl off his mind. _What's this feeling that I'm feeling? It's all so new, I don't understand…_

The ones in Pyrrha's head were more of realization. _I think he just brought us together…_

 _What's she doing to me?_

 _I knew from the beginning that I wished to be with him…_

 _Why does she feel so… Right?_

 _He's too much, I think I'm going to faint…_ She lightly let her eyelids seal out the lights of the fair as the sun's rays dripped away into the dark night sky.

 _I never thought that she would be…_

 _He's the one…_

 _Is she falling asleep?_

 _I love you, Jaune Arc…_

Then a magical silence washed their minds clean, as they savored this precious moment.

Two teens. Thrown into a cruel and unforgiving world burdened by darkness. Destined to become the most revered of warriors, living perilous lives that were far too treacherous for their age. Being forced into giving up their innocence of youth, and taking the honor of brutally fighting for what they were _told_ was right.

Though here they were, enchanted by care for one another. Cherishing a moment that resembled what normal teens were blessed with. Living like the children they truly were, treasuring this rarity, in which they experienced an infinitely small portion of the peacefulness of youth.

To the spartan, this was the romantic life she had always longed for. A fairytale, full of charm.

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 **Thanks for taking the time to read another chapter, I have no idea how I can show you guys how much I appreciate it. Don't forget to follow, favorite or leave a review. And always, thank you JMK2 for helping me with the story.**


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